Priorities
by x A Ninny Mouse x
Summary: A new villain with a need for speed hits Acmetropolis. However, this is the least of the Loonatics' problems. As one member is about to find out, when family gets in the way of doing what you love, what choice do you have but listening to those who care about you most? Sequel to Open Season.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A little longer than two weeks, yes, but not nearly as bad as this time. I blame the delay on lost mail with my summer homework in it getting here only two weeks before school starts, and an odd bout of sickness. (Seriously, I hardly ever get sick… Of all the lousy times…) However, I really wanted to get this first chapter out before starting school, so I made sure it happened. (Cutting it kind of close- I go back the day after tomorrow.) I'm particularly excited about this story purely because I'm so happy with how it sounds in the outline, and I'm really happy with the villain I came up with. He's based off of an original Looney Tunes character, and I'll further explain upon his official introduction, but that won't be for a few chapters. You know me; I like to keep you hanging… XD**

**So, this is a short prologue, purely meant to be a teaser as to what the Loonatics will be facing. Nothing much is revealed, but like I said, I wanted to get **_**something **_**out. (I haven't even completely finished the outline yet, though I do know exactly what happens in what I haven't written down yet, so I figured it was okay to skip to the intro.) I've grown to absolutely love third person after Open Season, so I think I'll be sticking to that for the time being. **

**I'm going to stop writing now and let everyone reading this get to the good stuff.**

It had started as a quiet day. Well, as quiet as any day could be at one of the busiest branches of the Acmetropolis First National Bank. Always full up with people of all ages and walks of life, it ended up being one of the most heavily guarded, having three guards standing in the lobby while six more watched from a back room, ready in case of any danger. The crowds alone were usually enough to deter any criminal activity, let alone the security.

It had happened during the lunch hour, when there were fewest bank-goers in the building and when many of the employees left the building to get their lunch elsewhere, leaving only the guards and a few tellers behind. One of these tellers, a kindly old man probably just short of retiring age, was assisting a college student with a withdrawal at the time.

"…Forty eight, forty nine, and fifty," the teller finished, handing the small wad of cash through the window to the student on the other side. "Here you are, young man. Fifty quazarlinium, as you requested."

"Thanks," the other replied, just beginning to reach out to take his cash.

Before anyone in the bank could make another move, let alone react, the doors suddenly burst open, admitting someone moving far too fast to see as more than a dark blur. He moved in a wide arc, hugging the wall and darting between the tellers and their customers, snatching any loose money along the way before darting over the counters and grabbing everything he could while still moving at his ridiculously fast pace. In that time, the guards had reacted, drawing their weapons, though they couldn't aim without risking hitting anyone. Some people swore at the loss of their money, some screamed in fright of the unknown adversary, and some, catching sight of the three guards, hit the floor.

Suddenly the thief slowed down, sliding to a clean stop underneath the only security camera in the room so he wouldn't be seen in the recording. The civilians could only stare, completely surprised at the appearance of the skilled thief. The guards, on the other hand, after sending out the alert to the others in the back rooms, took aim with their weapons. Before they could even shout a warning, the thief pulled a small laser gun and fired three quick laser blasts, impacting their own weapons and either knocking them from their grasps or damaging them to inoperability. Realizing that their adversary was armed and dangerous (and a damn good shot,) there wasn't much they could do.

Luckily for them, the cavalry arrived in the form of the other six guards suddenly storming in en masse from a back door, weapons already drawn and aimed for the thieves.

"Freeze!" one shouted in a commanding tone before they'd all even filed in, gaining the thief's attention.

"No thanks…" he replied in a slow, monotone voice with a very prominent Spanish accent. "You can, though…" Before any could even process what he said, a green glow enveloped the six guards. Everyone turned to them in worry, having no idea what it was that the thief could do. They were shocked with the results.

All six of the guards, still surrounded by the green light, were moving as though time had slowed to a near standstill. It took maybe ten seconds for them to take a single step, and even longer for any visual sign that they knew what had happened to them to register. They continued moving in slow motion, showing no sign of stopping and even less of covering any substantial ground in the meantime.

Those who were unaffected turned back to the thief, their plain horror and fear evident on their faces. They all flinched as this time a yellow light emanated from the thief, though quickly found themselves unable to look away. "You can all just disregard this," the monotone voice drawled, sounding as though nothing strange had happened there. "Forget about it and carry on with your routine." And without another word, the thief departed through the door as quickly as he came, releasing the six guards from their predicament in the process. They fell into a heap on the floor, and no one, guard or civilian, moved an inch.

Everyone in the building stared off to where they'd exited through for a while, about ten minutes, before anyone made a move. Slowly, the guards picked themselves up on the floor, followed by any customers who had done so for fear of being shot. Everyone looked around blearily for a moment, as though unsure of what had happened.

"What are we doing out here?" one of the six asked, being the first to break the silence. He received equally unsure replies from his partners before they all tiredly shuffled away towards their posts in the back rooms, confused as to what they'd missed.

"Um… I'm sorry, sir, I seem to have lost myself," the old teller said to the puzzled looking student in front of him, sounding as unsure of himself as the guards before returning to his usual chipper self. "How may I help you?"

"Uh…" the student replied unintelligently before also suddenly snapping back to himself. "I need to make a withdrawal. Nothing crazy, just fifty bucks or so."

Meanwhile, the other guards were equally if not more confused than the others. "Where…?" one began, noticing his missing firearm and looking around for it.

"If you lost that thing again, the chief'll put you on desk duty until the end of time," one of his partners drawled, earning a snicker from the third member of his party. "Hang on… Mine's gone, too."

The third guard looked to his belt. "And mine…" Looking around, he quickly spotted the three weapons in various spots on the floor a few yards away. Each walked over and reclaimed his weapon. "If anyone asks, this didn't happen."

"Agreed," the second guard intoned, before getting a look at the first one's weapon. "But that doesn't look like it'll save you from desk duty."

"Huh?" he asked intelligently before seeing the damage his partner had been referring to. He was definitely going to need a new one, seeing as the muzzle of his looked to have been melted. "Aw, man…"

"Hey, relax," the third one said supportively, throwing an arm around the other's shoulders in a show of camaraderie. "We'll tell the chief a laser pack blew up. It happens all the time."

"That's probably what _did _happen…" the first stated, taking another look at the damage. "You know, unless you've been fighting off someone trying to rob the place while we weren't looking."

"Yeah, right," the first deadpanned, putting his ruined weapon into its holster. "A robber trying to sack this place? It'll never happen."

**A/N: If they only knew… XD If anyone suspects they know who the thief is, please keep it to yourself until I reveal it. However, there is a surprise to the thief that you won't see until the reveal unless you're super observant and watch Looney Tunes just as much as I do, which is very hard to do. And as you can guess by the summary, not only will it be hard to catch this criminal, but it is by far the least of their problems.**

**Like always, this story will be full of suspense, AcexLexi, TechxSive, and many friendship moments between the Loonatics. I'm going to try to stick to my chapter every other week schedule, but until I figure out how this year will pan out homework-wise, I can't promise anything. As it is the next chapter will get up when it gets up, depending on school. (First weeks are always tough where I go, and I'm now a Junior, the hardest year. Fair warning.)**

**Until then, please review! I've missed hearing from my favorite people in the whole world wide web! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: …Despite being in all honors, two AP's, and having six full classes, my homework level has been surprisingly manageable. I feel tricked somehow… Raging paranoia aside, I managed to get a chapter up in my two week timetable! Huzzah! XD So, hoping I don't jinx myself, this makes the rest of the year look pretty good update-wise. Lucky you!**

**So, this chapter is kinda filler-y, but the fun starts in the next chapter. I'm serious, no bad estimating here, there will be action in the next chapter. And after that, it starts getting bad: you all find out who quits. 0.0 Not a long wait this time, huh? Don't worry, my characteristic suspense will still be present, just not in the usual quantities. **

**In news relating to this chapter, this is the essential Zadavia-reporting-the-issues thing along with an insight into the daily lives of the Loonatics and how they all get along. Like I said, filler-y. And by the way, I took some liberties with the fact that this takes place hundreds of years in the future. There are many mentions to contemporary movie titles, but I had to use **_**something**_**, so for my sake, please pretend it works.**

**Thanks to Halloween Witch, Loonaticslover13, Candlestic, sterskulls, Angelus Draco, and Luna246 for reviewing! (This is how I'm going to get back to you all now. If I ever forget to put this somewhere in an A/N, please brick me.)**

A lull in activity in Acmetropolis was always a welcome thing for everyone in the area. Of course, it never lasted long, so the Loonatics always made sure to make the most of it, usually in the forms of sleeping as much as possible and recovering from their last episode. Another favorite was taking part in what most would call the mundane; being the resident famous superheroes, they all craved as much normalcy as possible. This included movie nights.

"Hey, how about The Matrix: Revolutions?" Duck asked as the pay-per-view movies continued to scroll down the screen. He was met with a chorus of "No"s.

"You had us watch da second one...Reloaded, or whatever, a couple of months ago," Ace reminded him.

"And that one was bad enough," Tech replied with a mock shudder. "I hate to consider how bad a third one could possibly be."

"And-didn't-you-already-get-your-pick-earlier-this-week?" Rev asked.

"He did," Sive stated. "He somehow got us to watch The Expendables."

"How was I supposed to know it would be _that_ bad?" Duck squawked defensively.

"It had a whole bunch of 50-some-odd year old has-been action stars in it," Lexi deadpanned, earning some chuckles and a glare. "Besides, we've been seeing action movies every night. Can't we see something else for a change?"

Duck immediately disagreed. "Oh, no! The last time we 'saw something else', we watched High School Musical! I am _not_ going through that again!"

"If you'll remember, _I'm_ not the one who suggested it," Lexi dryly reminded, giving a sidelong look to Rev, who was nervously twiddling his fingers while looking anywhere but at anyone else.

Despite Lexi's defense, Duck still wasn't having any of it. "No way. You're outvoted- case closed, end of story, _period_."

"It's a hazard of bein' on a mostly-guy team, Lex," Ace agreed, wrapping an arm around Lexi's shoulders to make up for the fact that he wasn't going to support her movie choices.

"It would help to have _some_ support," Lexi griped, giving Sive a jab with her elbow.

Sive only laughed in response. "You think I'll be any help? The last time I watched movies with any frequency was when I was eight! I'm more familiar with the Teletubbies than Brad Pitt. My vote doesn't count."

"Well, I think it should..." Lexi muttered good-naturedly.

"So long as she's voting with you, right?" Tech deadpanned.

Lexi's grin spoke of her mischievous intentions. "Of course!"

Sive rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling at her friends' good-humored jibes. "Wow, thanks Lexi. I don't know what I'd do without a friend like-" Lexi jabbed her again before she could finish, earning another laugh from the younger coyote.

"Hey-how-about-we-watch-Mr.-and-Mrs.-Smith?" Rev recommended as the title flashed across the screen, being ever the middleman. "It-seems-like-a-compromise-since-it's-an-action-romance-flick."

Seeing as no one was in disagreement (though Duck did continue to grumble about the Matrix,) they decided to watch that one. They made it through the opening credits before their comm. systems beeped, signaling an incoming call from Zadavia.

"Aw, man," Lexi groaned, sending an exasperated look to the ceiling before getting up off the couch.

"Be ready ta jet, guys," Ace advised as they made their way to the nearest holoprojector, located between the living room and kitchen.

As soon as they were close enough, the machine automatically turned on, projecting Zadavia's image about the room. "Loonatics," she began without preamble, "we have a potential crisis situation on our hands."

"Ooh, worse than usual," Duck observed with eager trepidation.

"What do you mean by crisis situation?" Tech asked warily. "Like, another Armageddon episode, or something more localized?"

"Definitely not Armageddon," Zadavia clarified, knowing that the Loonatics' perception of 'crisis situation' was somewhat skewed after that particular incident. "Though this is definitely a problem. A new criminal made an appearance a few weeks ago at a branch of the Acmetropolis First National Bank, and he has a power that is potentially devastating."

"'A few weeks ago'?" Ace repeated. "Why are we just now learnin' 'bout dis?"

"Because everyone else is also just figuring it out," Zadavia replied before unraveling her cryptic answer. "Earlier this week a petty thief tried and failed to rob the bank. While going over security footage to find what they needed for this case, they found this."

Zadavia's image faded away and was replaced with a feed showing footage from a camera in the top corner of the bank, theoretically ideal for seeing everything important, meaning the front doors and teller windows. Soon after the clip started, the doors burst open and something traveling fast enough to be a blur on the screen swept in and stole everything possible before stopping below the camera, where they couldn't see. The Loonatics watched with rapt attention as the thief subdued the guards, varying expressions on their faces as they watched time slow for the larger group.

"I could see how that could be a problem," Tech agreed, "but I don't think that slowing things down warrants a crisis-"

"Just watch," Zadavia softly interrupted, her disembodied voice sounding loud after the silent security camera feed. A few seconds later, there was a yellow flash, and then the thief zipped out. Duck snorted as the guards fell over, but the others were more focused on how still the others were. Even Duck quieted as they watched business slowly restart and go back to normal.

"...What just happened?" Lexi asked, being the voice of confusion for all of them.

"That's-so-weird-you'd-think-that-they-would-panic-or-call-the-police-or-something," Rev speculated, still shocked by what had happened on-screen.

"He's a memory-wiper," Tech concluded grimly.

"Exactly," Zadavia confirmed as she came back into view. "After this accidental discovery, all potential targets based on the bank hit have been reviewing their own security footage for any sign of him, and will do so regularly until he is caught."

"Do we have any idea of who dis guy is?" Ace asked.

Zadavia shook her head. "None. As you can see, the witnesses have no clue. When questioned, none even realization anything had happened."

"What about slowing down the footage to a frame-by-frame view?" Tech asked. "Maybe we could get a shot of his face."

"Unfortunately, the police have already tried that themselves," Zadavia informed with regret. "We are just as in the dark as they are."

"So, in summary," Duck began in a buiseness-like tone, as though recounting the events of a casual meeting, "we are now dealing with a criminal who may or may not have been here sacking banks and such for months now. Not only may we have already met him and not realize it, but he's also got a major advantage since he can slow us down and move at the speed of light."

"I highly doubt he can move that fast, Duck," Sive deadpanned.

"Not without falling apart at a sub-atomic level," Tech added. "Based on the footage, I'd say that he's a good deal slower than Rev."

"Well-of-course-he-is!" Rev exclaimed emphatically. "I'm-a-roadrunner-with-superspeed-there-isn't-a-thing-in-Acmetropolis-that-can-catch-me!"

Rev, while usually not prone to preening, was known for being proud of his speed. He wasn't careless or reckless in combat or anything, but being a roadrunner, it meant a lot to him. The Sypher incident had seemed like the end of the world to him, though he'd hidden it well. Insults and taunts regarding his agility were quickly put to an end. The fact that he was well-known for being super fast made it all the more important to him, and he was always quick to assert his superiority.

"So long as we don't get tripped up by his slowin' ability, we should be fine," Ace reassured Zadavia. "And if worse comes ta worst, Duck can pop out for a bit and remind da rest of us of what happened later."

Zadavia nodded. "Let us hope it doesn't come to that. As soon as something comes up, you'll be alerted, so be on your guard, Loonatics, and be careful. Zadavia out."

Her image faded away, and the room became noticeably darker and quieter. If there was a sense of foreboding in the room, no one seemed to notice it, though.

"I think I'm going to go down to the lab," Tech stated, breaking the silence with an utterly normal remark. "I want to take a look at that recording; see what I can figure out about our thief."

"I'll-go-with-you!" Rev chirped, following after Tech.

"Are you sure?" Ace asked. "Zadavia said dat da cops couldn't get anythin' off of it."

Tech didn't even break stride as he replied, "I'm sure. I'm better than the cops' techies, anyway."

"But you'll miss the movie!" Lexi attempted to cajole, but Tech merely waved behind him as he walked out the door.

"Yeah-we're-sure-but-you-guys-have-fun-though!" Rev called behind him.

Ace merely shrugged as the remaining Loonatics walked back to the living room, adopting their previous positions sprawled about the room. It was routine as usual for them, and since this guy had so far proven not to cause any harm to anyone, not an overly distressing matter. "So, what was it we agreed ta watch again?"

"The Matrix," Duck replied without missing a beat.

"_No_, Duck," Lexi asserted. The others merely rolled their eyes at the pair as the bickering restarted again.

**A/N: Yes, I did a lot of move bashing, and if anyone liked any of the afore-bashed movies, please don't take it personally. These opinions of 'bad movies' are from my dad, my sister, and one of her friends, seeing as I hardly ever watch movies and needed options for well-known titles that they felt were bad. **

**Anywho, like I said, the next chapter is where the fun starts! I **_**might**_** have it up next weekend, seeing as it's the long labor day weekend and all, but please don't hold it against me if I don't make it. I'm just waiting for all of my teachers to gang up on me like they usually do…**

**Can I haz reviews? Plz? **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Huzzah! Early chapter! I figured I'd get this out on labor day rather than the weekend, so happy labor day to everyone! (I wanted to get this one out before tomorrow, seeing as it's my birthday and my sister keeps taunting me saying that whatever gift I'm getting, I'm not going to have time for much else. *curious look*) So, like I said, this chapter is where the action starts! Can anybody say, bank heist? XD However, the next chapter is where the real conflict begins, and it's going to end up being a long one, so sorry if I get it out a little late. (It was another one of those, 'Now how do I go about dividing this?' scenes, and it was either one ridiculously short part followed by a long part or one longer part, and I'm not a fan of ridiculously short chapters…) So, I'm trying for two weeks on the next one, but no promises.**

**To make up for the potential late chapter, I have earth-shattering, ridiculously good news! So, lucky me got one of 8 select teachers at my school who's part of the experimental i-Pad program! That's right- I'm getting an i-Pad as part of school. (Have to give it back at the end of the year, though…) So, by now you're wondering why this is good news for anyone but myself. The good news is that I'll be able to use it during free periods (and in select classes) and have in-school internet access. Guess who is undoubtedly going to spend most of her time typing up fanfiction rather than doing any work? XD It's like they're asking me to get nothing done… **

**So, without further ado, enjoy the story!**

They got the call not long after lunch on a Saturday, when the majority of the Loonatics were out around town; the thief had made an appearance at another branch of Acmetropolis First. All of them got Zadavia's alert through their comm. systems and immediately left their respective locations. Ace and Lexi, quickly joined by Duck, made it there first.

It appeared as though the thief hadn't been there long, seeing as he was still zipping around, stealing everything in sight while trying to subdue the guards. Random laser blasts flew all around, miraculously avoiding the civilians scattered about the room, ducking on the floor. The Loonatics weren't immediately noticed upon their arrival, and they used that to their advantage.

"Alright, here's da plan," Ace said quieter than he needed to, seeing as they were still waiting outside the bank, peering at the spectacle through the glass doors. "I'm just gonna storm da place, see what I can do ta stop him from hurtin' anyone. Odds are, I'm not gonna be able to beat him on my own, but I can distract him pretty well. Duck, you're gonna pop in near da ceiling, and try ta get him dat way; we'll team up on him. Use your quackin' ta drive him up da walls. Lex, I want you ta came in through da back. Don't let him see ya. When ya have an openin', give him one good hit. Both of you, avoid his slow-motion ability if ya can, and if ya see that yellow light, look away. Don't know if it'll work, but it's somethin'."

"Whatever you say, chief," Duck said, readying himself for quick quacking.

"Be careful, Ace," Lexi urged, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up. "You too, Duck," she quickly added out of courtesy before running towards the back of the building.

"What, don't I get a kiss?" Duck asked sarcastically towards Lexi's retreating form, though not loud enough to draw attention. While Lexi didn't bother giving him any form of reply, though she undoubtedly heard him, Ace did spare a moment to give the mallard a smack upside the head accompanied by a displeased look before charging in the doors, announcing himself with a well-aimed laser blast in front of the thief. It was hard to tell whether he ducked or jumped to avoid it, seeing as he was little more than a short, dark colored blur at the speeds he was moving, but Ace only just missed him either way.

"Hey!" the thief shouted indignantly in a fast-paced Mexican lilt, not breaking stride though changing his path to keep moving while well out of the way of Ace and the remaining guards. "Hasn't-anyone-ever-told-you-that-it's-rude-to-just-barge-in?"

"I could say da same ta you," Ace retorted, readying himself to move.

"Maybe I should teach you some manners," the Hispanic voice drawled, but this one was different. Instead of being fast paced, this one was slow, monotone, and sounded...different, like it was from someone else, much to Ace's confusion. He didn't have long to dwell on it, though; the thief started firing his own laser-based weapon at him, and the bunny was forced to quickly dart off to the side, diving behind an overturned desk for cover.

"Oh, so dat's how were gonna play it, eh?" Ace asked, mostly to himself as he quickly gathered himself. Drawing the Guardian Strike Sword, he stood up from behind the desk, using the blade to deflect the laser shots back at the thief, using his laser vision for added support. The criminal was overwhelmed, but not to the point of making mistakes or losing his sense; he simply stopped firing his own shots and turned his full attention to dodging Ace's, giving him less to dodge and freeing himself up.

"You've-got-to-do-better-than-that-conejo*!" the faster persona shouted, diverting from his previous path to put civilians in his way, forcing Ace to quickly avert his gaze and stop shooting lest he hit an unintended target.

The thief took advantage of this momentary distraction, making a quick 180-degree turn and giving Ace a high-speed kick in the chest. The thief zipped away and took cover behind a downed desk in a corner where he couldn't be seen before the downed bunny could retaliate, but Ace was far from down for the count; the hit wouldn't have hurt at all if it hadn't been so fast, revealing that the mystery thief was neither very heavy nor strong. Not surprising, considering how one of his powers was speed, but still good to know.

"Not so tough when ya don't have da upper hand, are ya?" Ace taunted, before quickly dodging back behind the desk as the thief stood up from his hiding spot. Ace saw his gun before his face, and decided he'd rather avoid getting shot than figure out who he was dealing with. Fortunately for him, the thief didn't get a chance to get a single shot off; Duck chose that moment to make his presence known, throwing an egg from his perch atop a hanging light fixture. It exploded in front of the desk, showering the area in tar, but the thief had already moved to a new spot.

"What-kind-of-tonto**-throws-tar-around?" fast shouted, sounding more mocking than aggravated. Duck certainly took notice of it.

"I don't know what you just called me, but you're not getting away with insulting _Danger Duck_!" he declared, lobbing another egg at the thief's new hiding place. Zipping out again before Duck could land his hit, he started firing off his own weapon at the mallard. The tables were turned as Duck avoided the shots with ease, quacking away only to reappear on top of a desk near the fast-paced Mexican's path and surprise attack him with a few more eggs. Duck's quick quacks proved to be a match for the thief's speed; he just barely avoided that and the subsequent attacks. Duck quickly pushed the thief back around the room, herding the so-far oblivious Mexican back towards Ace.

Their unknown assailant had almost forgotten about the bunny, being too busy with Duck, and didn't remember until Ace had jumped out of hiding, wielding his sword with obvious intent. The obvious move would have been to use his speed to get out of Ace's way, and both Ace and Duck were prepared to follow up with another attack when that happened- it turned out that this guy wasn't the predictable type.

Suddenly pivoting on one foot (which turned into a skid at the speed he was moving at,) the thief flipped around to where Duck had just quacked to and fired off one shot at the mallard. With a surprised yelp, he quacked away again, narrowly avoiding having his beak blown off. Pivoting back around, the Mexican burglar faced Ace again, speeding back up to avoid the bunny's oncoming attack. It didn't look like he would make it, until Duck suddenly reappeared right in his teammate's path, forcing Ace to twist slightly in the air, putting one shoulder forward and his sword behind him to avoid killing the oblivious mallard. This resulted in a spectacular tackle that would have made any NFL star proud, the two Loonatics ending up in a painful heap on the floor as the thief passed them by, laughing mockingly.

"If-I-had-known-you-guys-were-going-to-stop-yourselves-for-me-I'd-have-started-doing-this-a-long-time-ago!"

"Si. You are making this muy facil***," the slower persona agreed...with himself?

"Oh, great," Duck grumbled as he and Ace gingerly picked themselves up off the floor. "Not only does he _really_ know what he's doing, he's crazy, too."

"Who-you-calling-crazy?" the thief shouted indignantly as he turned to make another pass, Ace and Duck scurrying to get out of the way. Fortunately for them, Lexi made herself known at that point, aiming one precise brain blast at the thief. He didn't notice her nor her attack until it hit him square in the back, propelling him into a small table and overturning it, landing somewhere on the other side.

"His speed is a double-edged sword," Lexi observed as Duck and Ace joined her. "He's hard to hit, but once you do, he can't stop himself until he hits something."

"Kinda like Rev," Ace agreed, waiting another few moments as civilians began to file out the back exit, escorted by the remaining conscious guards. "Well, looks like ya got him, Lex. I think he's out."

"Let's see who this guy is," Duck said with dark intent, strutting forward with a purpose. "And remind me to ask Sive what a 'tonto' is."

Lexi shot Ace a confused look, having arrived after Duck's pride had been wounded. Ace shrugged and gave her a 'Tell you later' expression before they, too, started after Duck, curious as to the identity of the mystery thief. They weren't used to not knowing who they were dealing with; usually their enemies showed up, made an announcement as to who they were and what they wanted, _then_ started blowing things up. This was a new one on them.

They didn't even make it half way across the room.

Suddenly someone stood up from behind the overturned table, a very short someone by what they could see before being blinded by a sudden flash of green light. The next thing they knew, the three were all but trapped in their positions, barely able to move no matter how much effort they put into it while the thief, now back on his feet, ran circles around them and laughed maniacally.

"Forgot I could do that, didn't you?" slow drawled.

"Too-bad-for-you!" fast taunted before suddenly heading for the front door. "And-as-much-as-I-would-love-to-stay-and-chat-I-have-things-to-do-and-places-to-go. Don't-bother-following."

With that, he burst through the doors, leaving the three Loonatics still struggling within their formless prison. At first, they were absolutely terrified that they'd be stuck like that, and sincerely hoped that someone- most likely Tech- would know how to get them out of it. Then the light suddenly faded, allowing them to move freely. All of their previous effort put into moving resulted in them suddenly diving in random directions, once again ending up in a painful heap on the floor.

"I hate this guy already…" Duck grumbled.

**xoxoxoxox**

If the thief had thought he was home free, he would have realized that he was dead wrong the second he got outside and got charged by a very angry Tasmanian devil the size of a small car. With an undignified and quite literal squeak, he zipped out of the way of the charging Loonatic, only to be chased across the empty street- no doubt blockaded further down by police. A little peeved that that he could practically keep up with him in his tornado mode, the speedster suddenly made a sharp u-turn that Slam couldn't follow, forcing him to stop for a moment to re-orient himself and continue the chase in the right direction.

"You-like-spinning?" the thief called as he made another tight turn to head back at his opponent. "Then-try-this!"

Before Slam could start forming his tornado, the thief reached him and grabbed onto one of his arms. The massive Loonatic wondered what he planned on doing, seeing as his hands felt about as big as those of a toddler and suggested no significant strength, but it became clear when the thief didn't stop running and continued in a circle, dragging the devil along with him in an inadvertent spin. He continued around a few more times before rocketing off again, leaving the poor Tasmanian devil to slow to a stop before collapsing from dizziness resulting from the inadvertent tornado.

"This guy's good," Sive said, sounding both impressed and wary as she and Tech arrived on their jetpacks just in time to continue the chase.

"We'll have to be careful," Tech agreed. "You have the best chance of hitting him, though; lightning travels at the speed of light."

"I'm well aware," Sive smirked. "I'm going to have to fly low, so cover me."

Sive flew off without waiting for a reply, branching off slightly from Tech before diving down to barely twenty feet off the ground. Electricity was a tricky thing to control, though, so she wanted to make sure she'd hit what she was aiming for. Collecting the energy for a small bolt, trying to avoid killing the thief, she launched a few quick, smaller attacks. The mini-Mexican countered with his own slow-motion, launching the green light at her shots without turning or breaking stride. Much to her shock, rather than exploding on impact, the light enveloped her lightning bolts, slowing them until the thief was well out of the way before releasing them where they exploded harmlessly on the sidewalk.

Sive flew back upwards to be level with Tech. "Something's telling me this isn't going to work. Got any other ideas?"

Tech thought for a moment before replying. "Yeah. Try herding him back to the bank, that way he'll have us, Slam, Lexi, Ace, and Duck to contend with." This time Tech was the one to fly off before a reply, going low and using his magnetism to cause strategic streetlamps to fall, blocking streets and forcing the thief to run in one direction. Tech continued this as Sive kept back, using larger bolts of lightning to keep the thief from straying too far off course. This time, however, the thief knew he was being herded in a certain direction. However, he was at a loss, seeing as his foes were in the sky.

They made it close to the bank again before the thief figured out a way to ditch the Loonatics. Speeding up as much as he could, he stopped trying to get away and focused on overtaking the lead coyote. Seeing this, the one in back sped up as well, drawing even with her companion, and that was when he struck. Using his slowing ability, he fired off two short, concise blasts that hit their targets perfectly- not the coyotes, but their jetpacks. The sudden slow to their 'vehicles' but not themselves resulted in the worst physics mishap to ever befall them; while their packs slowed, they didn't, slipping out of the straps and continuing forward- and downward.

Both crying out in fear and alarm, they fell towards the ground at different speeds and angles. Tech, traveling much faster than Sive at the time, fell faster and at less of an angle, resulting in him landing somewhere across the street. He could have cared less about himself, though; he could regenerate, Sive couldn't. While they hadn't been traveling spectacularly high, they were moving fast enough for a fall to potentially cause some serious damage.

Upon realizing her predicament, Sive only shut her eyes, preparing for the worst. Her surprise at a sudden but relatively soft landing was understandable, as well as the secondary surprise jolt before settling.

"You…okay?" someone asked hesitantly, and Sive snapped her eyes open to reveal a very worried Slam. He was sitting on the ground- having overbalanced after catching her, and opting to land on his rear rather than on top of her- still cradling her in his arms, and regarded her with obvious fear for her well being.

"Slam!" she chirped happily, her relief obvious as she leapt up and hugged the Tasmanian devil, who returned it with equal, if not more fervor. "Boy am I happy to see you! And good catch!"

Slam said something unintelligible, though happy and relieved sounding, before releasing her and picking themselves up off the ground. Before long, though, the speedster zipped past them not a yard out of reach, cackling all the while.

"Somebody certainly thinks very highly of himself," Sive murmured, both she and Slam tensing, readying themselves to give chase, no matter how pointless the action would have been- had they had to follow through with it.

"Don't-worry-guys-I've-got-him!" Rev shouted to them as he rocketed past, breaking every speed limit in existence as he took off after the thief. He'd been just outside of town, so it had taken him a while to get there, and now that he had arrived, he was going to put a stop to this guy once and for all.

Sive and Slam watched them go, turning to each other as they went out of sight. "I think we'd better find Tech and the others, make sure they're all right."

Slam nodded in agreement, and they split up, Sive crossing the street to look for Tech and Slam going in the bank to check on the others.

**xoxoxoxox**

In a contest of speed, the mystery thief wouldn't have stood a chance against Rev. Slam could keep up with him in tornado mode, and Rev could easily outpace the Tasmanian devil. It seemed as though the thief knew this based off of the path he took. Rev had to travel at high speeds to make up the ground he'd already lost, using his GPS to quickly catch up to his opponent. Finding that the roadrunner could easily dodge his slowing ability while in the ground or in the air, the Mexican opted to take paths that required many sharp turns. He was going just slow enough to make them. Rev wasn't, and had to fly up over the buildings and then track down the other again before repeating the process. The thief knew he wasn't shaking him that way, so took other measures, turning onto one long, straight, dead-end street and barreling down it for all he was worth, the roadrunner hot on his heels.

"You-should-just-stop-now-because-you-know-I'm-going-to-catch-you!" Rev shouted, quickly gaining ground on his opponent.

"That's-what-you-think!" the thief taunted in return.

"Well-look-there's-nowhere-left-to-run-to-so-you'll-just-be-caught-tired!"

"That's what you think," the slower persona replied, throwing Rev off for a moment before he dismissed it for later thought. "You may want to watch where you're going."

Now mildly alarmed, Rev shifted focus from the thief to the street- and panicked. The street ended in a high bridge that only had a three-foot gap at the bottom for running water, seeing as it was a downhill street, and it was solid concrete for about thirty feet up. Knowing there was no way he'd stop in time, nor would he be able to make that gap, he began a sharp incline up, hoping to make it over the bridge as the short thief ducked under the gap and made his escape. It looked as though he'd make it until he reached the very top. His feet clipped the guardrail, resulting in an extreme loss of control caused by the high speed. He tumbled down onto the pavement, and everything went black.

**A/N: Whew, that was long. I expected it, but still… I'm just now finishing this fairly late at night where I'm at, so I'm going to keep this one short and go to bed…**

**I wouldn't mind some reviews as a birthday present… *puppy dog face***

*rabbit  
**idiot  
***very easy


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Slightly late, but not that bad, and I hadn't expected this one to be on time. A lot happens here, and I figured it would be about as long as it ended up being. (Upside of 4300 words!) So, in this chapter, we have a check in with our bad guy, and then…the sort-of surprise twist! (Sort-of because it's pretty obvious what happens, my 'How' however, is out of left field. XP) Next chapter should be up in a week or two (it's a shorter-ish one, but my schedule is up in the air.) Don't have much to say, so, enjoy!**

Morning news casts tended to be more humorous, lively, in an attempt to wake their audience up at the ungodly hours they had to awaken for their work. Evening news, then, was meant to put their audience to sleep. The monotone voices of the news anchors depicting the more melancholy stories of the day with as much interest as a child regarding educational television tended not to draw much attention, let alone derive any humor from any situation. The short Mexican sitting in front of the TV, however, couldn't help but laugh himself silly as he rewound an earlier scene over and over again. It was a mystery as to how they got the footage, but somehow a news station had cameras set up to capture Rev Runner's earlier blunder on the bridge, and his earlier opponent was greatly enjoying his victory.

"You-know," he said in his speedy Mexican lilt, "you'd-think-he'd-have-more-coordination-for-being-the-'fastest-thing-in-Acmetropolis'. He-wasn't-so-hard-to-beat!"

"You just got lucky," a monotone voice that put the news anchor to shame stated. "If that bridge hadn't been there, we'd have had some serious problemas."

"You-worry-too-much!" the first said with a dismissive wave of the hand. "That-gringo-doesn't-stand-a-chance-against-me."

The slower shook his head. "You are too arrogant, and ignorant. While you are fast, the roadrunner is faster."

"So? I-have-brains!"

"Correction: You have me." Ignoring the speedster's outburst, the slower turned his attention to the TV as the newscast was finally able to continue past the roadrunner blunder.

"_Reports state that Rev Runner was not severely injured after his impact, though he will be out of commission for a few days. With this new speedy villain on the loose, that means more difficulty for the Loonatics. Despite previous blunders from the roadrunner, from common high-speed mistakes to the Robo-Amigo incident that almost ruined the Runner family business, Rev still proves to be a valuable team member, especially with a villain about that challenges his area of expertise…"_

"In this case, we need to stop trying to beat the competition head-on and try something else…" A slight pause here as the program was rewound once again, allowing him to listen to the sound bite again. "We need to get rid of that roadrunner…and I know just how to do it."

**xoxoxoxox**

"Okay, how did dey manage ta get footage of dat?!" Ace asked indignantly as Lexi shut off the TV, unable to stomach seeing Rev's painful impact. The bunny was never happy when news teams showed up and filmed them in combat, mostly because he wanted them well out of the way of danger but also because he felt no need for any of them to relive the event later on.

"Nowadays, they can have cameras everywhere and no one could realize it," Lexi stated, though her distaste was evident. "Have you seen how much dirt they have on celebrities and politicians these days?"

"Still, no reason ta show somethin' like dat…"

"Oh-it's-okay-Ace-it's-not-like-it's-that-graphic-or-anything-and-besides-I-only-fell-off-a-little-bridge-I'm-fine!" Rev said, attempting to sound reassuring. Considering the fact that he was sitting in a chair with Tech standing behind him, in the process of bandaging the roadrunner's head, it didn't work as well as he may have wished.

"Technically speaking, you fell _on_ a bridge, and if you hadn't suddenly gone uphill so fast, it could have killed you," Tech stated matter-of-factly, giving the back of the roadrunner's head a frustrated look as he attempted to look back at the coyote- _again._ "Unless you want me to bandage your crest in with the rest of your head, stop moving. I'm almost done…" Rev huffed, but did as he was told.

It was quiet in the living room for a moment, until Slam, Duck, and Sive walked in from the lab. Seeing as Tech was indisposed, they had taken it upon themselves (some more willing than others,) to look over the footage from the bank. Tech could have easily done it on his own, but otherwise, it was a two to three person job. While knowing who they were dealing with may not have helped them any, save for potentially giving them an address to look over, it was still a good thing to know. Plus, it was driving them crazy that their villain was deciding to remain anonymous.

"Anything?" Ace asked.

"Nothing," Sive confirmed agitatedly, tiredly plopping herself down on the couch next to Lexi. "The bank only had the one camera in the front, and it was even worse quality than the other one. He was either careful to avoid being seen by it, or still moving too fast for a frame-by-frame to make a difference."

"Are you sure none of you three managed to see him?" Tech asked the three from the bank portion of the earlier escapade, again. "Nothing at all?"

"He made sure not ta slow down enough ta get a good look at him," Ace replied calmly. "He's tryin' not ta be seen."

"Can't-we-even-get-a-general-description?" Rev cajoled. Ace, Lexi, and Duck all paused to see if they could remember anything significant.

"He was short," Lexi offered.

"Hispanic," Ace added.

"He might have been an anthro…" Lexi said thoughtfully, thinking him over. "When we hit him that last time, I still couldn't see him that well, what with the light from the blast and the fact he was still breaking 50 miles per hour until he hit the table, but he either has a head that rivals Mastermind's or really big ears."

"That's something to go on," Tech said, finally finishing Rev's head and beginning to repack the first aid kid. "Anthros are still uncommon enough that we should be able to narrow down the field by a lot. Got anything else?"

"He was crazy…" Duck stated matter-of-factly.

"Well that's something new and different," Sive said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "So, what is it this time? Garden-variety crazy, obsessive crazy, or seriously crazy?"

"Seriously," Duck emphasized, his tone leaving no room for humor. "Like, in need of a shrink, seriously."

Rev seemed to perk up as well. "You-mean-how-he-talked-to-himself?"

Tech immediately shook his head. "Everyone talks to themselves sometime or another. You guys should hear me working on my own in the labs sometime-"

"No, we mean carrying on a two-person conversation with himself," Lexi supplied with equal conviction as Rev and Duck.

"In two completely different voices," Ace added.

"So, we're now dealing with a speeding, slowing, mind-wiping Mexican who may or may not be an anthro and has Multiple Personality Disorder," Sive summed, making it sound as normal as possible. "Great, and here I thought this would be boring…"

"That should help us figure out who we're dealing with, though," Tech said.

"Yeah," Rev agreed, "antrhos-aren't-that-common-but-neither-are-severe-mental-disorders-so-we-should-easily-be-able-to-narrow-down-the-field-to-about-a-dozen-people-or-so-and-even-if-he-isn't-an-anthro-it-probablly-still-comes-down-to-within-50."

Tech nodded in affirmation before turning back to the others. "Anything else?"

"I could tell from when he slowed a bit dat he had dark skin…or fur," Ace added as an afterthought, "but I couldn't see his face; he was wearin' a mask or somethin'. Dat I remember because it was dis gaudy red color."

"No it wasn't," Lexi interrupted. "I saw it too, and the mask was green, not red."

"No, it was definitely red."

"Green."

"Red!"

"Green!"

"Duck!" Sive interrupted before the petty argument could escalate any farther. "What did you see?"

"Uh…" It was very quiet in the room as Duck tried to make a decision. "Call me crazy, but I think I remember seeing both…" Ace facepalmed at this, while Lexi rolled her eyes, both obviously still thinking they were right.

"Okay, then…" Tech drawled. "While you guys sort that out, I'm going to put this away-" here he indicated the first aid kit, "-and then go down to the lab and start searching for our guy. Have fun with that."

Tech vacated the room, and it looked for all the world that the argument between the bunnies was about to resume. The others were also preparing to flee the room, trying to create believable excuses to be elsewhere, but before the argument picked back up again, the door chime mercifully went off, making them all jump in surprise. The only frequent visitors they got were when they ordered in dinner; seeing as that hadn't happened, their surprise was warranted. It lasted all of thirty seconds before the doors opened, admitting their unexpected company.

"Mom-Dad-Rip!" Rev chirped happily, rising and zipping over to meet his family as the two adults rocketed out of the elevator to meet their son. The youngest of the bunch followed much more slowly, though the detached, apathetic look that had defined him on his last visit was replaced by one of mild worry.

"Why did he give them a key?" Duck grumbled before being quietly shushed by Lexi.

Rev's parents wasted no time, embracing their babbling son while Rip stood off to the side, inspecting his brother's injuries. "What-are-you-all-doing-here-so-suddenly-not-that-I'm-not-happy-to-see-you-all-it's-just-surprising-I-wasn't-expecting-to-see-you-all-until-my-next-visit!"

"We were watching the news earlier-" Rip began, only to be verbally run over by his father.

"We-saw-what-happened-to-you-on-the-TV-and-immediately-came-over-to-make-sure-you-were-okay," Ralph explained, mindfully keeping the speed of his voice in check for the sake of the others in the room.

Harriet, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as observant as she fussed over her oldest's injuries."OhRevhoneylookatyouyou'reallbeatuphowcouldthishaveh appenedyoushouldbemorecarefu lsomeoneshouldhavebeenwatchi ngoutforyouwhywereyoualoneyo ucouldhavebeenkilledorworse-"

"Ma!" Rev interrupted, his mother's frantic ranting coming to a sudden stop as he gently but firmly gripped her wrists so she would stop fussing. "I'm-okay-Ma-it's-nothing-really-just-some-bumbs-and-bruises-it-looks-worse-than-it-really-is."

Harriet still didn't look completely appeased, but did relent at the look her son gave her. "Ifyouinsistbutyoucan'tsayyoudidn'texpectustoshowupImeanwhatki ndoffamilywouldwebeifwedidn'tcomethesecondwesawthatyouwe rehurt?"

"Um-Ma-remember-that-conversation-we-had-a-litte-while-ago-about-speed?" Rev asked quietly, eyeing his friends who were unsuccessfully trying to understand what the Runners were talking about.

"Oh-of-course-how-could-I-be-so-rude?" Mrs. Runner said with a sheepish expression, finally realizing that they had an audience. "Hello-everyone-sorry-for-dropping-by-so-suddenly-but-once-we-saw-that-Rev-had-been-hurt-we-came-running!"

"Literally…" Rip grumbled, though only Rev seemed to hear him if his concerned look was anything to go by.

Ralph, meanwhile, zipped over towards the other Loonatics, already in the process of giving out friendly, though forcefully fast handshakes. "Let's-see-if-I-remember-you-all-I'm-really-good-with-names-you-know." Starting with Ace and moving down, everyone made sure to remain polite as Rev's father made his rounds, saying, "Here's-Chase-Flexi-Scram-and-Chuck!"

As he got to Sive, who was hiding her confusion very well, taking the fact she hadn't yet met the Runner family into consideration, he paused partly because of his 'coyote issues', and partly because he couldn't quite figure out why he remembered Tech looking so different. Then, of course, the real Tech walked back into the room, and all three Runners did a double take as they realized that there were now _two_ coyotes in the room.

"Oh-my-goodness-_there's-two-of-them!_" Ralph shouted in alarm, jumping back and zipping back behind the relative safety of the other Loonatics as Sive gave him a look that plainly questioned the elder roadrunner's sanity.

Tech, for his part, handled the situation fairly well. Walking in and finding that the Runners had dropped by for a surprise visit would have been unpleasant (to him) anyway, but poor Sive had no idea about their…quirks. Thinking as quickly as he usually did, Tech took a couple of long strides over to Sive, grabbing her arm and insistently tugging her away back the way he'd come. "Oh, Sive, I just remembered that I need you in the lab! Right now!"

Sive figured out enough on her own about the situation to know to follow Tech, though she did whisper quietly enough for only Tech and Lexi with her super hearing to hear, "What was that about?"

"I'll explain when we get to the lab," he replied in an equally hushed tone as he and Sive exited the room.

Rev fidgeted slightly, having expected that would happen when his parents first met Sive (seeing as he had left out the little detail of species in telling them about her,) but he still hadn't been quite ready for it. "Uh-Ma-Pa-that-was-Sive."

"I-gathered," Ralph said in a clipped tone, shooting Rev a displeased look at that neglected tidbit of information.

The room quieted after that, the silence awkward and heavy. The Loonatics all didn't quite know what to say after that little performance, Rev was trying to avoid eye contact with both of his parents, his parents were both trying to convey their feelings to their son through their expressions while being oblivious to anyone else in the room, and Rip was still trying to figure out what had just happened.

Ace, ever the peacekeeper, was the first to break the silence. "So, Mr. and Mrs. Runner, can we get ya anythin'? Ya must have had a long trip ta get here so fast…"

Both of the elder Runners seemed to snap out of their haze, directing their attention back to the general public, much to Rev's relief. "Oh-thanks-for-the-offer-but-we're-fine," Harriet said reassuringly with a shake of her head.

Pa nodded his agreement. "We-wouldn't-want-to-impose-after-all-we-are-here-unnanounced-though-to-be-fair-we-were-planning-on-dropping-in-sometime-soon-we've-been-meaning-to-talk-to-Rev-here-about-something-important-for-a-while-now."

"Oh-well-if-that's-the-case-then-maybe-we-should-take-this-somewhere-else?" Rev suggested, indicating a side door that he could potentially quickly ushering his parents through. While his parents were the type most teenagers would hate being seen with in public, they seemed to be hell-bent on making an even bigger spectacle of themselves than usual.

"Oh-sure-honey," Harriet agreed, quickly zipping through the designated door with her son and husband in tow.

Rip made as if to follow them, but stopped as the door slid closed again, the electronic panel indicating that it was locked from the other side not a moment later. "Tch," he snorted, rolling his eyes as he walked away. "Whatever."

**xoxoxoxox**

"So…coyote issues?" Sive repeated, looking as skeptical as she sounded.

"Yeah, I don't get it, either," Tech agreed with a shrug. "Rev said that it stems from some particular ancestor who was constantly bothered by coyotes, but that doesn't help explain it."

Sive shrugged, hopping up to sit on the edge of a table as Tech turned his attention back to one of the many consoles in the room. "Different strokes for different folks."

"I'd agree, but this particular 'stroke' just rubs me the wrong way," Tech grumbled. "I got more than enough of this in college, thank you. The last thing I need is a melodramatic repeat from my best friend's parents."

"Haven't you been to Rev's house, though?" Sive asked, recalling the many times Tech grumbled about houses on cliffs and Rev's humorous explanation.

"He somehow managed to convince them that I was a vegetarian," Tech stated dryly, looking skyward and shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. Sive couldn't help but giggle at this, though it was mostly directed at Rev's parents if that was what it took to be allowed entry into their home. "Glad to see you're finding so much humor at my expense."

"I'm laughing at them, not you," Sive explained, mildly amused at how easily Tech could get all huffy, though she wouldn't dare say anything about it to him, especially while he was in a mood. "So, are all three of them like that?"

"No, just-" Tech was cut off by the sound of the door chime. When he had the lab doors locked, as he usually did, the chime was essentially a doorbell, installed per Ace's request after one too many all-nighters turned to all-weekers with the rest of the team locked out. Sending the access code through the console, both coyotes were surprised as the youngest of the Runners walked in.

"Hey, Rip," Tech greeted, turning his attention away from the console. "What are you doing down here?"

"Getting away from my parents," the younger roadrunner replied matter-of-factly, his tone speaking volumes of how common this occurrence was.

"Join the club," Tech invited with a general wave of the hand to indicate their situation.

Sive nodded in agreement. "You know, so long as you're not going to scream and run, too."

Rip laughed once, walking further into the room and leaning on the table next to Sive. "Nah, that's just them. Sorry about that, by the way, they're…something else."

"I gathered," Sive commented dryly.

Wanting to move the subject off of his parents for the sake of his own wounded pride, if nothing else, Rip said, "So I take it you're Sive, then?"

"Last I checked," Sive confirmed, amiably shaking hands with the younger roadrunner. "And you're Rip, right?"

"Yep," Rip confirmed with a nod. "So, what are you two up to down here? You know, other than hiding from Mom and Pop."

"I'm just hiding," Sive replied with a shrug.

"I was planning on going over the security footage from the earlier heist again," Tech stated, "but Sive here feels that quadruple-checking would be obsessive."

"We didn't find anything the first time, and your two successive checks didn't make any earthshattering discoveries, so I say quit while you're ahead," Sive advised. "Or, at least, before you fall any further behind. You're going to work yourself into a coma at this rate."

"That's what Ma always says to Pa and me," Rip chuckled, shaking his head. "Since there are two of us, though, she can't really do anything."

"Lucky you," Tech retorted in mock-annoyance. "I've got both Rev _and_ Sive to drag me out."

"If we didn't, you'd be a complete shut in."

"Hey! That's not true! I've always been pretty good at not getting too wrapped up in anything," Tech huffed, crossing his arms. It was evident he wasn't really mad, though, if one took his tone and pouty expression into account.

Sive smirked. "Rev's told me about some of your college habits."

Tech blanched. "Okay, you win."

Rip couldn't help but laugh at them, drawing both of the coyote's attentions back to the roadrunner. "Rev's right; you two _do _fight like an old married couple!"

Both coyotes blushed and looked away, both directing their gazes anywhere about the room that was far away from the other and both making a mental note to have a long talk with Rev later. Rip took note of this action but, much to the two coyote's relief, didn't say anything about it.

"So…" Tech began, wanting to change the subject but unsure of where to go. "How've you been Rip? Anything interesting happening at your dad's company?"

The change was almost immediate. The younger roadrunner's previous mirth disappeared without a trace, replaced by a clearly perceptible scowl that was purposefully directed away from the coyotes. "I've been a little out of the loop, lately."

"I thought Ralph gave you a jumpstart in the marketing division?" Tech asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"He did, and at first, everything was great after the whole, ah…'incident'," Rip explained, hesitant to even mention the episode revolving around the Bio-Tech parasite. At the mention of this, Sive shot Tech a questioning look, and he non-verbally replied with an 'I'll explain later' expression. "But lately both he and Ma have been acting…weird."

"Weird how?"

Rip thought a moment before replying. "It's hard to explain unless you've been living with them for forever. Just, like, the little things, you know? Dad's been forgetting meals, Mom's been less…jumpy about everything, both have all but forgotten about me, among other things."

"Could it have something to do with whatever it is they want to talk to Rev about?" Sive questioned, mildly concerned for their speedster friend. Tech was as well, though it wasn't obvious; the elder coyote was hard to read at the best of times, but Sive had learned a few of his tells. In that case, while remaining outwardly calm, she hadn't missed the sudden twitch of his tail in response to her question, and his own worry. What Sive didn't know, though that could be contributed to her lack of knowledge on the Robo-Amigo incident, was that Tech was also expressing worry for Rip as well. If he was being neglected like he had been again, Tech was planning on having a talk with Rev about it.

"Maybe; like I said, I have no idea what they wanted to talk to him about," Rip replied with a shrug. "They barely remembered to get me into the car when they left earlier, much less tell me what's up."

It was silent in the lab after that, the roadrunner thinking to himself about everything while the two coyotes struggled with thinking of something to say. Before long, Rip shook his head and looked back at the others, his previous dark expression gone and replaced by one of mischievous interest. "Enough of that; let's change the subject! So, tell me about this new villain. I hear he's totally nuts…"

**xoxoxoxox**

Rev led them to another part of HQ, into a room that was similar to the one they had just exited save for the fact it was in a less-central area of the tower. Having a 300-some-odd story building left them with a lot of extra space, and Tech's 'toys' could only take up so much room, and this led to many repetitive rooms; namely five living areas and four kitchens scattered about. Even though they were now in a completely different part of the building, Rev still felt embarrassed as his mother once again set upon him, determined to examine first-hand each and every little injury her son had sustained.

"Ma-I'm-fine-really-it's-not-so-bad," he again tried to reassure, but this time she wasn't letting him off the hook so easily.

"You-say-that-but-have-you-seen-that-clip-the-news-is-showing-of-you-getting-hurt-I-thought-you'd-been-killed-at-first-until-they-said-otherwise-but-I-was-absolutely-terrified-your-father-too-so-we-immediately-came-over-and-I'm-glad-we-did-seeing-as-they-didn't-take-you-to-a-hospital-or-anything," she ranted, quickly switching from sounding fearful to irritated as she poked around her son's bandaged head.

"Well-if-it-had-been-worse-they-would-have-but-we-have-an-infirmary-set-up-in-a-sublevel-of-the-lab-and-we-all-have-some-medical-knowledge-some-more-than-others," Rev explained, purposely leaving out the fact that Tech knew more than anyone else by far.

"No-it's-not-okay-son!" Ralph suddenly cut in, looking as livid as he sounded. "You-are-constantly-put-at-risk-and-getting-hurt-and-they-won't-even-take-you-to-a-decent-hospital-let-alone-give-you-a-paycheck-and-that-is-one-of-the-largest-cases-of-injustice-I've-ever-heard-of!"

"But-it's-really-not-Pa," Rev began, trying to hide his hurt at the sudden repeat of their conversation before the Robo-Amigo incident. He had thought, hoped that Pa had gotten over it, moved on, but it appeared as though that wasn't the case, and the thought that he was disappointing his parents didn't sit right with the speedster at all. "We're-here-to-keep-everything-safe-for-everyone-it's-a-job-meant-for-the-greater-good-and-it-makes-me-happy-and-it-makes-others-happy-and-while-we-aren't-officially-paid-we-get-reimbursed-in-lots-of-ways-that-make-it-more-than-worth-it."

"But-it's-not-fine!" Ralph continued, practically ignoring everything his son said. Rev had seldom seen his usually calm and amiable father so worked up, and whenever he did, Ma was usually the one to calm him down. At that point, though, Harriet wasn't making any move to curb her husband, didn't even seem bothered by what was going on, and Rev wasn't feeling brave enough to make his own attempt, so Pa carried on unchecked. "Rev-son-I-love-you-but-you-need-to-realize-that-this-job-isn't-doing-anything-for-you-except-putting-you-in-constant-danger-and-I'm-dissapointed-that-you-still-can't-see-that."

Rev, now started to get mildly distressed, looked to his mother for help. A sudden shift happened that Rev missed in his distress; Pa, previously livid, calmed almost instantaneously at Rev's shift in attention and became calm, almost indifferent save for the determined look he still bore. Ma, on the other hand, looked between her son and her husband for a moment, slightly conflicted before steeling herself. It was then Rev realized that she hadn't been looking for what to say, who to side with, but how to say it. Their minds had been made up.

"Rev-honey," Harriet began, trying to sound sincere though concern quickly won over, "while-I-do-respect-how-much-you-love-what-you-do-and-how-good-it-is-and-all-it's-never-sat-right-with-me-try-looking-at-it-from-my-perspective-having-my-son-run-off-willy-nilly-into-the-face-of-danger-doesn't-sit-right-with-me-and-I-honestly-can't-say-I-approve."

Now Rev really _was_ distressed, the emotion plain on his face as he forcibly escaped his mother's hold and backed up a bit, facing his parents, one concerned and the other quickly shifting back to stern. "Where-did-all-this-come-from-what-are-you-getting-at?"

The two elder Runners faced each other for a moment before resolvedly turning back to their son.

**xoxoxoxox**

"Are you sure you want to leave so soon? You practically just got here, after all," Lexi said, trying to be the culturally required voice of hospitality. In reality, most of the Loonatics would agree with Duck on the matter; the Runner parents were definitely…different, and having three speed-talkers in the room at one time was a little much to handle. They (apart from Duck and perhaps Tech,) didn't mind having them over every once in a while, but no one would complain when they left.

"Oh-no-that's-okay-dear-we-really-just-wanted-to-check-up-on-Rev," Harriet replied cheerfully, waving off Lexi's concern as she and her husband waited for the elevator.

"Speakin' of which, where _is _Rev?" Ace asked, only just noticing that the red roadrunner was absent. The elder Runners had zipped in and announced their impending departure so quickly, no one had had the chance to notice their missing team member.

"He's-still-probably-thinking-about-what-we-had-to-speak-to-him-about-and-we-already-said-goodbye-to-him-so-there's-no-reason-to-go-track-him-down," Ralf said dismissively. The Loonatics waited for an explanation as to what Rev was reportedly thinking about, but resolved to ask their friend themselves when no details were forthcoming.

The elevator arrived not long later, polite goodbyes were exchanged, and the Runners loaded on as the gathered Loonatics started to get back to what they were doing, only to stop and watch in wonder as a blue blur came in from the direction of the lab.

"Bye guys!" Rip shouted quickly, shifting to slide into the closing door of the elevator without an inch to spare.

Tech and Sive followed, much slower, stopping once they saw that the youngest of the Runner family had made it. "I know he's a Runner and all, but…wow," Tech commented, giving voice to what everyone was thinking. "I had no idea he could move that fast."

"Hey, where's Rev?" Sive asked, looking around the room for the other roadrunner. Both she and Tech wanted to have long conversations with him about varying topics, and she had been hoping to have her questions answered sooner rather than later.

"I was just about ta go lookin' for him," Ace replied, already heading for the door the three Runners had exited through earlier for privacy. However, Rev beat him to it, opening the door and slowly walking in.

All activity in the room stopped at the sight of their usually lively and cheerful teammate. Shoulders slumped, haunted expression, and walking slowly by normal standards, Rev looked as though he'd been through hell and back only to be told he'd have to do it all over again. Even his voice was slowed as he didn't wait for the question, going right to the answer.

"I talked to Ma and Pa and…" he began, before pausing as though he was having trouble finding words. In reality, he just didn't want to say it; it would only make it more real.

"They…they want me to quit the team."

**A/N: Didn't see that coming, did you? XD A lot is going to tie into this, but nothing will be given away until later on. (Unlike previous stories, I will be giving out hints and such to what's going to happen here and there, but you have to be paying attention to see them! Foreshadowing, anyone?)**

**And on a side note, as to the un-severity of Rev's injuries from the previous chapter, think about it from a hypothetical perspective. If you're in a car and drive up a hill without hitting the gas, you'll slow down. Now imagine doing the same thing at a 90 degree angle. You rapidly slow, meaning that the impact wouldn't have been that bad seeing as he would have slowed down a lot at that point. **

**Now that the physics lesson is over… R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I told myself I'd get this up today, and I didn't disappoint! XD Yay for surprisingly long chapter! Even for me, because, well, I forgot just where I'd wanted to end this one, so it was longer than I had thought it would be. And because of the extra part added in, it's not filler! Or a cliffhanger! (That had been an option, so lucky you, nothing's hanging.) So, the first part is development, the second is some Tech-Rev friendship stuff, and the last part is where the actual plot is, so that's how this one breaks down.**

**In terms of news for the next chapter, I don't yet know where I want to cut it off. It'll either be just some TechxSive stuff that only looks like plot, or that stuff plus actual plot. However, it would then be ridiculously long, so I probably won't do that. Two weeks is the hope, but I'm super busy this month, so until November, anything goes.**

**ARGH! Somebody owes me, like, three bricks! Thanks to Luna246, Halloween Witch, Loonaticsover13, starskulls, Candlestic, and for their previous reviews, iwolf208 and Angelus Draco. You all seriously have no idea how much your kind words mean to me, and I love hearing them!**

To say that the feeling in the room was tense would have been a gross understatement. Lexi was fidgety; Duck was silent; Slam wasn't hungry; Ace wasn't his usual infallible self, showing obvious distress at the whole situation. Even Tech was affected, possibly more so than everyone else, though Sive had caught him in time before he could set up permanent camp in the lab. They were on the other end of the room, Sive still trying to calm him down while the elder coyote anxiously paced about. Their disquiet was warranted in that situation.

When Rev had first told them what his parents had wanted a few days prior, everyone had been floored. Some were shocked, some were confused, and some cried in outrage, but Rev himself was still in too much shock to do much other than explain what their problem was. His parents apparently had felt so vehemently about it, Ace thought it best to bring Zadavia in to quell their fears. Opting to give them their privacy, the other Loonatics had given them free use of the conference room for the discussion, all eagerly awaiting the results of Zadavia's holographic conversation with Rev's parents. They had decided to wait in the living room, finding little things to do to occupy their time until Rev came back with the outcome.

That had been two hours ago.

"This is taking too long," Tech muttered, tail swishing in agitation as he continued his pacing. While his pace was relatively sedate, the fact that he was just short of stomping around the room showed just how affected he was.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Sive offered, watching with well-hidden wariness as Tech continued determinedly to wear a rut in the floor, waiting for the eventual snap in his patience. "They're probably just reasoning with his parents, talking everything out thoroughly, that kind of thing."

"Or they could be succeeding in convincing Rev that they're right," Tech replied, sounding as though he were simply stating a fact rather than considering his friend suddenly leaving them.

"Tech." He stopped his pacing at her admonishing tone, finally facing her as she gave him a chastising look for his pessimism.

He shrugged, restarting his pacing, only slightly calmer than before. "I never throw out any possibility until it has been proven false."

Sive huffed, rolling her eyes at Tech being so...Tech. She was about to fire off a quick retort when the door to the conference room opened, bringing a complete silence as everyone in the room stilled. One look at Rev and they all knew how it went.

Shoulders slumped and moving slowly by normal standards, Rev looked as though he hadn't slept in a week and was about to topple over. Besides that, he wore an expression that wouldn't have been out of place in a funeral parlor, making his teammates more worried for him than before. For his sake, though, they tried to hide it as best they could, veiling it behind support.

"That bad, huh?" Duck asked, for once no bite to his tone as he expressed his concern in his own unique way.

Rev sighed and nodded in affirmation. "Apparently-a-lot-of-things-have-been-bothering-them-for-a-while-now-and-Zadavia-wasn't-any-help-in-abating-their-fears."

"What is it that they're so worried about?" Lexi questioned, unable to fathom anything that would get the Runners so worked up as to try to convince their son to quit the team. Well, she could think of a few things, most of them involving the resident coyotes, but none had happened and she could say with certainty that none would ever happen, so she didn't count those options.

"Everything-from-risk-of-injury-to-lack-of-pay-to...ah..." Here Rev gave a covert little glance over to the coyotes on their side of the room. While neither actually saw it because Rev mostly had his back to them at that angle of the room, Tech still seemed to understand, giving a low growl quiet enough for only Sive and Lexi to hear. Sive also gave an irritated flick of an ear but remained silent.

"It seems weird ta me dat dey hadn't said anything about dis until now," Ace speculated, wisely changing the subject as quickly as possible. "Last time your dad didn't hesitate to say anythin' about some of dis stuff. Did dey say why dey're just now startin' ta act up?"

Rev shook his head, slowly moving to sit on the couch and stare forlornly at the floor. "No-they-didn't-and-I-didn't-ask-but-if-they've-been-this-upset-for-so-long-then-I-guess-the-blow-up-was-inevitable-and-I-feel-really-bad-for-not-noticing-their-worries-earlier."

"Hey, that's not your fault, Rev," Sive said reassuringly, leaving her corner of the room to stand closer to everyone else. Tech came with her, though he remained silent, his usual list of options to follow showing no signs of making an appearance. "You can't blame yourself for not noticing something that they kept from you." Rev didn't seem to agree, though, shaking his head in response before sighing and rubbing a hand down his face tiredly.

It was quiet after that, no one daring to say anything. Rev was still too shell-shocked to process anything, while everyone else all had one question on their minds but were too afraid to ask, be it because of Rev's possible reaction or because of his possible answer.

Tech was the one who finally build up the nerve to ask, quietly, "Do you know what you're going to do?"

Rev looked up from the floor for the first time since entering the room, meeting everyone's gaze for at least a moment, before shaking his head and returning his attentions to the ground.

**xoxoxoxox**

Not long after the result of the conversation with the Runners, Tech had sequestered himself in his lab, not emerging any time through the evening. He only had two interruptions, the first being when Sive phased through his door at dinner time with a plate of food for him. Recognizing that he hadn't wanted to talk, she had kept the visit brief. The second wasn't until much later, either ridiculously late at night or very early in the morning; though he was still wide awake, the coyote couldn't have been bothered to check the time. Reviewing the video footage from the bank heists while tinkering with a few gadgets had kept him occupied.

He heard the door slide open, but didn't bother turning around; he knew who it was. The door _opened_, so it wasn't Sive, and only one person had the override code for the door lock.

"Hey-Tech," Rev called nervously, hesitantly stepping into the room as the door automatically closed and re-locked behind him. "What-are-you-up-to?"

Tech gave a nod of acknowledgement, pausing the video and putting down his gadgets before turning and facing the roadrunner. "Nothing important enough for you to feel bad about interrupting. What's up?"

Tech already knew the answer to that, and Rev knew he knew. However, instead of answering his question, Rev moved closer to peer over Tech's shoulder at the screen behind him, still paused on the security footage. "Sive's-right-you-are-obsessing."

"And you're avoiding the question," Tech deadpanned, giving the roadrunner a pointed look.

Rev had the grace to look sheepish for a moment before steeling himself and meeting Tech's gaze again. "Tech-I-need-some-advice."

Tech sighed tiredly, shaking his head. Though he knew it had been coming, it still didn't make it any easier to deal with. "Rev, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. This is your decision, and moreover, it's between you and your parents; getting a third party involved won't make this any clearer."

"But-you're-my-best-friend-and-I'm-really-confused-and-I-don't-know-who-else-to-turn-to!" Rev explained, his tone almost crossing the line between desperation and hysteria very quickly.

"Rev," Tech began calmly, using a slow, even tone as he attempted to reason with his friend, "I understand where you're coming from, but I'm not the person you should go to for advice right now. A: I'm biased, and B: According to your parents, I'm part of the problem. Why not go to, say, Rip instead?"

"I-already-called-him-earlier," Rev informed with an irritated huff, clueing Tech in to what Rev thought of that conversation. "He-said-to-just-forget-Ma-and-Pa-but-they're-my-family-I-can't-do-that-to-them-what-they-say-does-matter-to-me-but-on-the-other-hand-you-guys-are-my-friends-I-can't-leave-you-behind-either-and-I'm-just-really-conflicted-right-now-and-I-don't-know-who-to-listen-to-anymore-and-!"

"_Rev_!" Tech shouted, gripping the frantic roadrunner's shoulders to get his attention. "Calm down! Going crazy isn't going to solve anything."

"But-everyone's-telling-me-something-different-and-I-don't-know-who-to-listen-to!" Rev cried, looking and sounding like he was near tears as he shook himself from Tech's hold. Both were silent then, giving the distraught roadrunner time to collect himself. It was a few minutes until Rev spoke, quietly saying, "You're-good-at-making-sense-of-everything-Tech...I-need-help."

Tech sighed again, leaning back against the desk behind him as he thought of a way to help without giving Rev a biased answer. Eventually, Tech gave a somber reply. "Normally I'd say something like 'follow your instincts,' but I know you neither want nor need some half-assed cliché...so I'll say this: You can't turn your back on those who care about you."

Rev remained silent, letting Tech's words wash over him to assist in formulating a course of action. He was smart, smarter than most may have thought, and it didn't take long for him to come to a conclusion. He wasn't sure if he liked what he came up with.

**xoxoxoxox**

_Rain, _Rip mused. _Why is it always rain?_

However cliché the weather was, considering the situation, Rip couldn't help but agree that it fit the situation. He wouldn't have been surprised if some of the dark clouds churning outside the window decided to break through and give them a good soaking indoors. It looked as though they'd have to settle for the bleak mood that was already permeating the room.

Everyone was there, save Rev. Even the mysterious boss-lady that ran the Loonatics was there, slowly pacing about the living room as the other members of the team sat around and moped. His parents were in and out and in and out, taking all of Rev's things down to the car as fast as the elevator could move. (Yes, they were fast, but they simply didn't have the stamina to keep running up and down 134 flights of stairs.) It seemed that they wanted to be out of there as fast as they had gotten there upon receiving the call from Rev- again almost forgetting to bring Rip along in the process. Frankly, he couldn't tell where his older brother's sense had gone, but Rip hoped that he found it soon; this was starting to get ridiculous.

There was no way Rev could stay away for long. He loved the superhero gig, and with friends as good as these, there was no sense in leaving- especially if all he was going back to was his neglectful parents. Rip could tell just how close they all were by their reactions to his brother's leaving. Lexi, Slam, and Sive were sitting together on the couch, the former two looking like the most miserable people in the world while the third sitting between them tried to offer comfort as best she could, though Rip could tell by the look on her face and the slight droop in her ears that she wasn't unaffected either. Ace, meanwhile, was pacing around just as Zadavia was, but with a ferocity that suggested they would be needing repairs on something soon- most likely in the training room. Even Duck was showing some reaction, lounging sideways in an armchair with his legs hanging off the side and staring holes into the ceiling. Rip couldn't tell if that was how he moped or if he was angry like Ace was- probably somewhere in between.

Tech's reaction was the worst, though he was by far the most sedate. He was sitting in another chair on the other side of the room, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands partially covering his face. He still wore a neutral expression, though, and that was what made it alarming. Rip didn't see how he could be that calm. Considering how everyone else was giving him a wide berth, he wasn't the only one unnerved by the coyote's behavior.

Everyone in the room suddenly snapped-to as Rev walked in from the back hallway, either jumping to their feet or stopping in place at his entry. Rip straightened up from where he had been leaning on a doorframe, but mostly out of surprise. Rev was wearing street clothes, just jeans and a t-shirt when he walked in, holding his uniform under one arm. His usual red coloring was gone, replaced with his natural blue feathers and purple crest, and with his coloring went the usual brightness and fire in his eyes, replaced by a dull sheen as he moved uncharacteristically slowly into the room.

_My God, he's actually going through with it! _Rip thought incredulously.

While he was slow, Rev moved with a purpose, knowing what he had to do. Crossing the room as quickly as he could make himself, he hesitated a moment before handing his uniform over to Zadavia. She, too, paused a moment before receiving it.

"Are you sure of this, Rev?" she asked, not pushing for him to do anything but trying to see if it really was what he wanted to do.

"As-sure-as-I'll-ever-be," he replied with a shrug, as though he wasn't discussing anything of importance. He then shook it off, obviously not wanting to linger on his doubt and wanting to continue with his agenda. "It's-been-great-working-with-you-Zadavia."

Zadavia nodded, giving a rare, soft smile in return as he shook Rev's hand. She had made it a point not to get too personal with any of them, so it was no surprise that, even though it was Rev, the goodbye was fairly formal. "It has been an honor having you on the team, Rev. Keep in mind," she added a little softer, "that you are welcome back at any time. There will always be a place for you here."

Rev nodded, purposely not meeting her eyes to give away any uncertainty. "Thanks-I'll-keep-that-in-mind."

He then moved on to Ace, even slower than before. Unsure of how personal Ace wanted to get, knowing that the bunny ran the spectrum from formal to relaxed, he stuck out his hand for a handshake. Ace looked at his hand for a moment, before shaking his head and saying, "Nuh-uh," moving his hand aside as he stepped forward and wrapped the happily surprised roadrunner in a quick hug. "Zadavia's right; ya always got a place here. And I'm expectin' ya ta visit often."

"You-know-it-Ace," Rev replied. "I-hope-I-get-the-chance-to-work-with-you-again-sometime."

"Likewise," Ace agreed, before stepping back and allowing Rev to move on. "You take care."

Rev nodded once, offering a small smile of acknowledgment, before moving on, this time to the trio on the couch. Lexi was first, obviously trying to hold back tears as she wasted no time in engulfing the roadrunner in one of her surprisingly strong hugs. Both too overcome, neither said much, simply hugging tightly while desperately holding back tears. Eventually Lexi released him, but he didn't make it far before being scooped up by Slam, already bawling loudly as he almost snapped the roadrunner in half.

"Aw-Slam-it's-okay," Rev said, doing a surprisingly good job of keeping his voice steady through the emotion and lack of air Slam's hug was providing. Hearing the strain, the Tasmanian devil lightened up on the pressure a bit, but still didn't release him. "I'm-still-going-to-visit-it's-not-like-I'm-leaving-forever-or-moving-halfway-across-the-world-or-anything."

Slam nodded in acceptance, but it was still quite some time before he could be convinced to release the roadrunner. Sive was up next, and expecting the normally introverted coyote to be another not-hugging-type, he began to extend his hand, only to be once again pleasantly surprised when she said, "Come here, you," and gave him a hug. His surprise was short lived, though, and he indulged in a fairly quick hug with the shorter coyote. "Keep in mind," she said after separating, "if your parents ever get out of hand, you know who to call."

Rev chuckled a little, a huge step considering how upset he'd been only moments before. "I'll-remember-that-but-could-you-do-one-thing-for-me?"

"What's that?"

"Make-sure-Tech-doesn't-kill-himself?"

Sive smiled, nodding in affirmation. "On it. Just make sure you take care of yourself too, yeah?"

"Sure-thing-Sive," Rev agreed before moving on to Duck. Frankly, he hadn't been sure what to be expecting from the mallard, but the offered handshake was more than what he thought he'd get, so he took it without question.

"Watch yourself out there," Duck advised. "Without me there to watch your back, who knows what could happen."

Rev somehow resisted rolling his eyes, but did appreciate the last touch of normalcy from Duck. "I'll-keep-that-in-mind."

With one last nod, the mallards eyes then gluing themselves to the floor, Rev moved on to Tech, now standing but still with that neutral expression. It was awkward for a moment, neither sure what to do or say, until Tech began with, "I'll be missing you in the lab. Won't be the same without your chatter."

"And-here-I-was-thinking-that-you-found-me-annoying," Rev replied, knowing that that wasn't the case. "It's-not-like-I-can't-visit-and-my-parents-let-you-over-once-I-don't-see-why-they-won't-again."

"Actually, they let me over far more than that, and I have the scars to prove it," Tech deadpanned before finally getting to the point. "It won't be the same without you here."

"It-won't-be-the-same-not-being-here," Rev agreed. "I'll-miss-seeing-you-around."

"It'll be like college again, only seeing each other when we can both get away from work," Tech reasoned, even though both knew that instead of being a dorm away, they'd be cities apart.

Before they could go any further, Rev's parents zipped back in, all of their son's belongings now packed up in the car. "Okey-dokey-now-that-that's-all-settled-we-can-make-like-eggs-and-scramble-on-out-of-here-Rev-honey-are-you-all-set-to-leave?" Harriet asked, giving a thinly veiled look of distaste at her son's proximity to the coyote.

"Almost-Ma-I-just-need-to-" And here, there was yet another interruption, but this one more vital.

The alarms of HQ started blaring, not set to deafen but to startle the Loonatics into readiness. It had the desired effect, all of them, Rev included, adopting a ready stance as they peered about, habitually preparing for Zadavia's holographic appearance before remembering that this was one of the odd times that she was _right there._

"Rev!" Ralph barked, Rev flinching at the chastising tone before relaxing.

Zadavia, meanwhile, was quickly skimming over the information she was receiving on a wrist-mounted computer. "Loonatics, it's our new thief again. He's just south of here; you may be able to catch him if you leave now."

With one last conflicted look, all of the Loonatics stormed out, save for Tech, who lingered another moment before giving his best friend a quick but strong pat on the shoulder and following the others out, the alarm silencing with their exit.

"Come-on-Rev-let's-get-out-of-here," Harriet said, gently but insistently urging her son into the elevator as Ralph already pushed the buttons, resulting in Rip just barely making it on in time once again. His pointed glare went unnoticed, however. "Rev-honey-I-know-you-don't-think-it-right-now-but-this-is-for-the-best."

"You're-definitely-not-leaving-much-behind," his father groused. "That-boss-of-theirs-doesn't-do-much-she-just-makes-_them-_do-all-the-dirty-work-it-really-isn't-right-"

Here Rev tuned out his parents, reflecting on what he had just done, and wondering for the umpteenth time if it was the right choice.

**xoxoxoxoxox**

It was a long drive, but eventually the Runners reached their home up on the cliff. They couldn't even get through the door before Ma was talking about making one of Rev's favorite meals for dinner to welcome him home, and Pa was talking about how he already had great plans for Rev at his company and how he'd be the greatest project manager they'd ever seen. Rip occasionally tried to get a word in edgewise, sometimes looking as though he was going to object to whatever his parents were saying and other times looking as though he were going to offer some form of comfort to Rev, only to be run over, literally and/or figuratively, by one of his parents.

All of this passed over Rev's head as he looked around 'home.' Nothing had changed since he'd left; it all looked the same. His family seemed…as normal as they could get. But something still felt off, and it wasn't just his odd relations. He couldn't put a finger on what it was, but he knew immediately what it made him think of it.

This wasn't home for him. Not anymore.

**A/N: Okay, I'm tired now. Must sleeeep… R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: *in hiding* In my defense, I DID say that I felt as though my teachers were deceiving me. *peeks out, gets bricked***

**I AM SO SORRY! I hated leaving this hanging for so long, but it had to be done! Words cannot express my guild at my unexpected absence. It's one thing to do this before starting a story, but while it's in progress and just after a big part?! ;_;**

**The good news is, this is a long, TechxSive-ey chapter. And, more good news, the bad guy is revealed sometime in the next chapter or two, depending on how long I make the next one. And: I found a cool icon pic to use as the story cover of a sad Rev! (Kind of a rare sight from the show.) *Note: I am artistically challenged, so the image is not mind. As it was, I only found it from a source that was 5 years old and had taken it from another source and said that the artist was unknown, so if it's yours and you don't want it here, please say so. (I'm pretty sure it's a screenshot, though, and if it isn't, by gosh, that person can draw!)**

**Thanks to Halloween Witch, Loonaticslover13, iwolf208, Luna246, and Angelus Draco for your kind words! I'm very sorry for making you all wait so long, but I still absolutely love hearing from you all! Your words are my inspiration!**

The living room was a sight to behold only several days after Rev's departure, not because of the state of the room, but because of the atmosphere emanating from the people in it, radiating outward like a thick fog. The new speedy criminal had been driving them hard, practically carrying out two robberies every three-day period, and all they had to show for it were cases of acute lack of sleep and quite a few minor injuries. Whoever he was (as they had still been unable to reveal his identity, though not for lack of trying,) he knew exactly what to do to keep the Loonatics off his back; each time they met, he was always sure to keep Ace and Sive, the only ones with ranged powers that worked fast enough to hit him; Duck, who could trip him up nicely with his quantum quack; and Slam, who could practically keep up with him in tornado mode, busy enough so that they couldn't even come close to getting him. It seemed that without Rev, there was absolutely no hope of catching the slippery speedster.

Of course, this was the least of their problems concerning Rev, and they didn't put that lightly. It was as though the entire balance of the team had changed from perfectly in tune to more or less unaware that their other teammates existed. None of them had realized how much Rev had contributed to the team, speed powers aside, and there was no way to fill the hole he'd left. His undying optimism was one thing they all- even Duck- dearly missed, all feeling relatively despondent without it. Even Lexi couldn't fill it with a boost in her usual cheer.

The biggest and most noticeable change, however, came from Tech. No one could honestly say they were surprised, but no one could honestly say they weren't unnerved by it, either. They had predicted that he would lock himself up in his lab and refuse visitors more often than not; they had even predicted a decrease in performance, seeing as he hadn't come up with a workable plan to catch the thief, knowing Rev's departure would throw him off his game. His sudden irritability, however, was unprecedented. He tended to snap at everyone when they attempted to show concern or offer comfort, or even worse, tried to get him to regularly eat and sleep. The rest of the team had no idea what to do, unused to this level of reclusiveness from the coyote.

As with everything, this came to a forced and mildly violent end after the fourth day or so of this behavior. Late in the evening, Tech had left the lab for the first time in a long while, citing that his considerable store of coffee had run out (which wasn't that surprising, seeing as by that point they coyote had been running on caffeine and a prayer.) By the time he'd reached the kitchen, Sive had already caught up to him and was pestering him about taking a break; she had been far less affected than the others by Tech's behavior, and as such didn't let him off the hook so easily. The fact that she was painfully aware that she was the only one still constantly looking out for him (and now the only one brave enough to confront him) made her even harder to shake.

However, Tech wasn't about to back down, either. He started by brushing her off at first, trying to avoid being rude right away, and when that failed, he moved to blatantly ignoring her. A few signs of aggravation showed from the elder coyote as he grabbed four full canisters of coffee from the pantry, but Sive still continued, now digging into him for obviously trying to go another long stretch in the lab. Sive herself was becoming a little annoyed with the other, but was doing a better job of hiding it than he was.

One coyote's breaking point resulted in tripping the other's. Finally fed up, he snapped at her, essentially telling her to leave him alone (in much more colorful language) before attempting to storm off back to his lab, obviously not expecting any resistance. Her reaction, on the other hand, was still being used as a much needed source of humor for the other Loonatics.

Tech's hopes of an easy escape were shattered when Sive's arms suddenly phased through him, confiscating his coffee and setting it down on a counter. Immediately he spun around, a snarl on his face that was quickly wiped away when Sive grabbed him about the ears and began dragging him away.

If they hadn't been paying attention before, Tech's yelp that was more of surprise than anything else ensured that their other teammates were now paying rapt attention. Lexi had been floored, Slam confused, Duck amused, and Ace too pleased with where this was going to intervene as Sive pulled the taller coyote out of the kitchen. Tech could only follow in shocked silence, hunched over a bit to minimize the pull on his long ears as Sive tugged him along, giving him a chewing out any mother would have been proud of, essentially telling him that "If you're going to _act _like a child, then you'll be _treated_ like one!"

The others only watched as Sive continued down the hall with her captive audience before phasing them both through a wall that led into Tech's room. Lexi had relayed the coyotes' following conversation to her eager listeners, all of them desperately trying to keep from laughing at their suddenly meek inventor and his newfound mother hen- mainly because said mother hen would probably zap them if she heard them call her that. This belief was proven only moments later when there was a loud static sound, and the keypad outside Tech's door for electronic lock system began smoking and sparking; they could only assume that Sive had shocked it from the inside. She then proceeded to exit through the door, saying to Tech that she'd fetch him in the morning before walking away. Considering how the only ones who could now get in (short of breaking down the door) were Duck and Sive, and seeing as Duck could get into the room but not bring Tech out of it, it was safe to assume that the elder coyote was stuck for the time being. The other Loonatics had a good laugh at their friend's expense.

True to her word, Sive brought him back out the next morning. He looked a lot better than he had before; sleep had done wonders for him. It had also done wonders for his mood; upon entering the living room, the coyote sheepishly apologized for his earlier behavior, promising that it wouldn't happen again before leaving for the kitchen to get something to eat. He even hung around with the others a bit before heading back down to his lab.

However, the team quickly found that Tech still wasn't back to his old self. While Sive was able to pull him out of his lab more often, and he was no longer agitated like he had been, he still seemed reluctant to express anything to his team. He was still more reserved than usual, and whenever he did spend some time outside of his lab, he always seemed troubled and distracted.

"I'm worried," Lexi said to Ace one morning over coffee, both idly standing in the kitchen.

"Me too, Lex," he agreed, knowing what she was referring to without having to ask.

Lexi shook her head. "And it's not just about that. Everything seems wrong without Rev here. Tech's not the only one affected, we're all off our game, and we can't even catch one thief."

"Ta be fair, dat guy really knows what he's doin'," Ace stated with a sheepish note, rubbing one shoulder where he had been grazed by laserfire just the other day.

"He's not the first we've ever faced who has," Lexi reminded him. "After all, there can only be so many Fudd's in the world."

"I think da Fudd's demselves make sure of dat," Ace commented wryly, thinking back on Fudd's wall of family hunting history before being serious again. "Even so, we've never had dis much trouble catchin' somebody before. We've been at it for weeks; even dealin' with Optimatus didn't take dis long, and I think he's da worst guy we've ever faced."

"Remind me to make sure to appreciate Tech more once all of this is over," Lexi said. "While our powers are helpful and all, we seem to be lost without the added support from his gadgets and plans."

"We're a team, Lexi," Sive said, making both bunnies jump as she suddenly phased into the room and walked to the coffee maker without a second glance at the other occupants. "We're lost without any part of us, and like you said, we're all off right now."

"Surprisin'ly deep for you," Ace speculated wryly over his coffee cup.

Sive merely shrugged. "I have my moments. Has Tech still not come up yet, or did I miss him?"

Ace shook his head. "Nah, he's still down dere. Hasn't locked da door yet, though, so dere's still hope."

"Someone should check on him," Lexi stated, not volunteering herself because she wasn't brave enough to see if he was still in a mood or not.

"Way ahead of you," Sive drawled as she slipped past the two bunnies. They hadn't paid her much notice before, but it didn't get past either of the rabbits' attentions that she held two very large mugs of coffee in hand as she quit the room.

**xoxoxoxoxox**

The lab seemed eerily quiet for that time of day. It wasn't necessarily because the rest of the team wouldn't dare enter, but because by that time, he'd usually have company. Rev had never woken up at the same time as him, but he'd usually join Tech in the lab before long. That was probably why Tech noticed the quiet so much; he had grown used to the _chatter_ that was commonplace when hanging with the motor-mouthed roadrunner. The normally cluttered lab now just felt…empty.

Sighing with a shake of his head, Tech resolutely returned to what he was working on. It wasn't anything of any real importance; simply an updated communications system, and seeing as the old system still worked fine, it was a project that could've always waited. He wouldn't have even started it for a long while, but Rev had pushed him to during a period where he, oddly enough, had no other projects left to do. Since he still couldn't think of any way to catch their thief, he found himself with nothing better to do yet again, and right then, he wanted to stay occupied.

Finally satisfied with his work, Tech placed the top back onto the boxy component and activated an old comm. receiver to test it. Plugging the component into a spare battery, not wanting to plug it into the HQ's power in the event of an electrical failure in the device, he activated the sequence on the machine. It powered up, which was always a good sign, and seemed to be working. However, his receiver never received his test signal. Shutting everything down and reopening the box with a frustrated groan, it took him a while to finally see the problem; he had wired a key part coming from the battery incorrectly. While the machine still powered on, many important functions would get no power.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd made such a little mistake. Another perk of having Rev constantly looking over his shoulder while he worked was that while the Roadrunner typically took a while to create a finished product, he was great at spotting little flaws and errors that could end catastrophically. Tech, on the other hand, created his ingenious inventions very quickly, though at the cost of checking everything over. For example, nearly every major final in his Technology classes at Acme U went wrong because of this. In fact, just before the meteor hit, a machine he'd been testing failed explosively, and he was sure he would've been expelled for that had…other things, not taken up his time from that point on.

Further looking into the problem, he realized what was wrong. In this case, knowing the issue wasn't very helpful; he'd have to rewire everything, and to do so he'd practically have to take the whole thing apart. Hours of work, all for nothing. Tension still running high, the coyote snapped, loudly growling at the inanimate object as he used his magnetism to fling it across the room where it crashed against the wall, breaking into base components and scattering all about the floor. Giving the mess one last, disdainful look, as though it were the cause of all of his problems, he slumped down against his workbench, burying his face into his arms with a huff.

"Well, at least your temper isn't directed at us anymore."

Tech looked up sharply from his desk, quickly turning around to face the newcomer in his lab. Sive, still standing in front of the door, gave the pile of parts an- amused?- look before waltzing fully into the lab, two mugs of hot coffee still in hand.

"The door's still unlocked, you know," Tech said dumbly, wishing that Sive actually _used _doors from time to time to give him a heads up. He wasn't fond of anyone sneaking up on him while he was working.

"I'm aware," Sive replied matter-of-factly, handing him the bigger of the two coffee mugs. "I figured you'd need this, seeing as I didn't let you restock earlier."

"Thanks." Tech accepted the mug, but was furiously blushing and wouldn't meet her eyes. Not only was he warmed by the gesture, but he was also extremely embarrassed that she had witnessed his outburst. After taking one sip, he found he _really_ missed the effects of caffeine, and practically chugged the rest.

Sive handed over her mug the second he put his down. At his questioning look, she shrugged. "You need it more. And unlike you, I'm not afraid to leave the lab to get a refill."

"I'm not afraid to leave…" he grumbled, though accepted the offered beverage.

"Then why don't you?" She waited a few moments, but ultimately wasn't surprised by his lack of response. "No one's going to hold it against you, you know. We all miss him, too; everyone's handling it differently."

He shook his head, setting down the mug and turning to face her. "I'm fine, Sive, really. I mean, sure, I miss him, but it's not affecting me any more than it's affecting anyone else." At that, Sive gave a purposeful look at the debris scattered across the lab before turning back to Tech with an expectant look. "…In my defense, I had to take that apart again, anyway."

Sive snorted. "So, you decided to do that by beating it do death?"

"It was a 'spur of the moment' kind of thing," Tech replied with a shrug, starting to straighten up his tools for lack of anything else to do. "I wired something wrong, and I would've had to have taken it apart to fix it. Rev usually caught stuff like that for me before I got too far along to fix it…"

"You're talking as if he's dead, Tech," Sive deadpanned. "He's not totally gone, and while we'll be seeing him a lot less than we're used to, it's not like we'll never see him again. Knowing him, he'll probably drop by within the next couple of days. It's not like you need to let go or anything; just adjust."

Tech mulled it over for a moment, walking around the lab as he put all of his tools back into their respective drawers and boxes. He hadn't really thought of it that way before; all he'd bothered to process was the fact that his friend was gone. It seemed as though he'd gotten too figurative with the word 'gone', though; Sive was right. Rev would come back at some point, and until then, it was just another change to get used to. If he could adapt to suddenly gaining superpowers and becoming a protector of the city, he could adapt to a friend moving out.

"I guess I am overreacting a little..." he admitted begrudgingly.

"No you're not. You're reacting as much as anybody else is, and if you stopped being such a recluse, you'd see it," Sive stated. "Slam hasn't been hungry, Lexi's been upset, Duck's been quiet, and...well, go see the state of the training room to see how Ace has been taking it. You're irritability isn't all that odd."

"And I suppose you're handling it by forcibly taking care of me more so than usual, huh?" Tech asked dryly, continuing to fiddle with little odds and ends in his lab.

Since his back was turned, he missed the barely there blush on Sive's face. She had much more experience than he did at successfully shielding her emotions, and was grateful that he had missed her momentary lapse. She didn't miss a beat in their conversation, though, snappily replying with, "Well, if you don't do it yourself, then short of calling your mother on you…"

"Oh, God, don't. She actually would fly out here for that," Tech groaned, almost shuddering at the thought.

"Then either you start watching out for yourself, or I'll just have to keep doing it," Sive stated with a smirk.

Tech sighed dramatically. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to get used to you _hounding _me all the time!"

"Oh, ha-ha, how long have you been waiting to use that one?" Sive asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Tech's back while he snickered. "Here's a tip; stop taking points from Duck on humor."

Tech half-heartedly winced as he fiddled with a few of the many computers scattered about his lab. "Ouch. You cut deep, you know."

Sive shrugged. "It's a hazard of talking with me." Looking over the taller coyote's shoulder as he worked on the computers, she saw video footage from one of the recent bank heists playing back in a loop. Windows within the windows on the screen showed different zoomed views of the thief, teller windows, civilians, all having different levels of contrast and brightness on them in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the culprit's face. "Okay, if you're still working on this same footage from all those days ago, I'm revoking your computer privileges."

"It's not, it's from…I think that one's the most recent one. They're starting to blend together a bit." He could _feel_ the look he received for that comment, but pointedly ignored it. "I'm still trying to find something useful from any of them, but time and again, all I see is this guy beating us around."

"Is knowing who he is really that important?" Sive asked skeptically. "I mean, sure, we could figure out where he lives and whatnot, but odds are he's based out somewhere undocumented. What's the use?"

"It's more the principal of the thing than anything else." He closed off all of the windows on the screens before finally shutting down the overtaxed systems, the hard drives deactivating with an audible whine before fading out. "…Anyway, I was also looking for any weakness that this guy has. Everyone has one, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't find his."

"Maybe it's not a physical weakness that can be seen," Sive suggested. "We already know he's not completely right in the head. It could be a mental weakness."

"If that's it, I have no idea what to do," Tech sighed, plopping down tiredly into a chair. "I have no experience in Psychology other than an AP high school course I took Sophomore year. And I don't think that anyone else has any experience in it… Unless you…?"

"Remember: I never even got to _middle school_, let alone high school or college," Sive deadpanned good humoredly.

"Right, right, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Sive replied dismissively. "So, how about doing something more old fashioned instead of psychological warfare?"

Tech shook his head. "Because of how fast he is, the only thing I can think of to stop him- short of killing and/or severely injuring him or us- is creating some sort of mechanical trap. However, his speed causes issues here as well. Due to the human element, we can't set up a remote or manual model, and he wouldn't be in the target zone for a long enough amount of time for a pre-set."

Sive gave him a look that suggested he'd just sprouted an extra head. "Okay, that _sounded_ like English, but I can't make heads or tails of it."

Tech actually had to re-think about what he'd just said before he realized his mistake. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I'm more used to bouncing ideas off of Rev. He usually understands what I'm saying, so I didn't even think to simplify it."

"Well, in this area, I'm definitely a pale substitute for Rev, but so long as you give me the 'For Dummies' version, I'll help you out as best I can," Sive offered cheerily.

"Uh, thanks, Sive," Tech replied, unable to completely contain his surprise at the turn of events. Usually, unless one specific team member was a key part of the plan, he and Rev were on their own for thinking of everything. They worked fine without everyone else, it's just that no one had ever offered to help before.

"Sure thing! The sooner we deal with this guy, the better it will be for all of us." Sive settled herself on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs and leaning on one knee. "So, repeat what you said earlier, but give me the simple version."

Tech nodded. "Right. So, what I said was that a trap was pretty much our only option. It can't involve us too much to avoid any injuries, but we also need to account for his speed. A remotely operated trap- as in, set off by a switch on a remote control- won't work, and neither would a manually operated trap- one set off by someone with the device- because we all react too slowly to activate the trap and give it time to do its job. A pre-set trap is the kind where it is activated by some sort of trigger- lasers, pressure sensitive panels, motion sensors, and the like- but because of how quickly he would be in and out of the activation zone, it wouldn't sense him."

Sive thought for a moment, processing all of this and thinking of a potential new idea before replying. "What about a trap that doesn't need to be triggered? Like, something that he would just run into?"

"Hm… Well, aside from a hole in the ground or the world's largest piece of industrial strength flypaper, I can't think of anything like that."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a net."

Tech shook his head. "That would require some kind of mechanism to make it rise up and snag our guy inside."

"How about if it was horizontal?" Sive asked, before almost immediately shaking her head. "No, no, wait…our guy wouldn't be stupid enough to run right into that. He'd see it coming."

"…Unless he couldn't," Tech intoned, drawing a curious look from Sive. "Fishing line, for example, is really hard to see unless you have it in the right light."

"With how fast that guy goes, wouldn't it act kind of like cheese wire, though?" Sive asked.

"Well, it goes without saying that we'd have to use a stronger version, like for deep sea fishing," Tech explained, "but I do have something on hand that's _like_ strong fishing wire, but I put some elastic into the mix, so it's a little springier and less likely to do any slicing and dicing. However, the usual design for nets, with rectangular or diamond gaps, wouldn't take enough force to hold this guy."

It was obvious that Tech was very lost in thought at that point, and Sive stayed quiet. She knew nothing about net designing, so she thought it best to leave it to him. He muttered to himself as he thought, coming up with different ideas and dismissing them almost immediately until…

"Can't do a pentagonal weave… What about a web?" he asked, loudly enough that Sive knew he was addressing her instead of talking to himself.

"Like a spider web?" she questioned. "I guess, but do you know how to weave that?"

"Yes, just don't ask how," Tech replied. "If I can synthesize some more of that string, and find a few places where we can set this up near a few potential robbery spots… Then we may have a plan."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hoping people are still keeping track of this… *flail***

**The next chapter should be on time, seeing as within the next two weeks I have a ridiculous amount of time off and no major projects (that I know of, but my teachers *cough*Bio*cough* have been known to spontaneously assign big projects two days before they are due.) So, here's hoping that the next one will be on time, and long!**

**Anyone still reading this, review! …Please? **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: A day late, yes, but hopefully the longness will make up for it? *bricked* I would've had this up on time had two different teachers not assigned entire books to read over the holiday… **

**Poor assignment planning aside, this chapter also contains something extra: the identity of the thief! *dun dun duun!* So, partly because you all probably would rather read that than my ramblings, and partly because I have had the worst headache all day and don't feel like coming up with something else to say, I'll keep this one short.**

**Thanks to Candlestic, Halloween Witch, Angelus Draco, Luna246, Molly Grace 16, and MileyLoonaticsFan96 for all of your kind words and understanding for my unexpected long break! **

"So, what, did these guys suddenly get tired of banks?" Duck asked over the comm. as the Loonatics flew high over the city on their jetpacks.

"They've probably hit them all by now," Sive grumbled sarcastically.

"Jokin' aside, why would dey go after a music studio, of all things? It don't make much sense ta me," Ace said. "What could dey possibly have of value?"

They had been woken up early in the morning by the alarm sounding and a call from Zadavia, and had immediately jet out. Tech had set up the street cameras around Acmetropolis to scan for anything that moved fast enough to potentially be their thief, and they had caught him making his way into a big recording studio in the area, Sundown Records. Tech and Sive had set up a few of their traps within the past couple of days near some potential targets around town, and this was close to one of them (though the targets they had in mind were jewelry stores and banks), so the Loonatics were rushing to get ahead of their mark.

"Am I the only one here who pays attention to music?" Lexi asked exasperatedly, sounding as though the others should have known what she was about to say. "These guys recently won this huge award called the Centennial for being around for so long and supporting so many successful groups. As the name suggests, they only give it out once every hundred years!"

"Well, that would explain why he's trying to get into the awards vault," Tech stated matter-of-factly, peering at the screen on the small tablet he'd patched into the studio's cameras. Notably, the thief was still making sure that he stood out of camera range. "But unless he's a major music enthusiast, I still don't get it."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "The award looks like an old-fashioned record, and it's made of solid 24 karat gold."

"Well, dat explains dat," Ace said as the building came into view. "Tech, are we still ahead of him?"

"Yeah, we should be able to catch him just outside the vault if we hurry," he replied, checking the screen one last time before putting it away. "We should have just enough time to let him think that nothing's up."

"Great! Sive, you go on ahead and get goin' on your part," Ace ordered. The younger coyote nodded, peeling off of their flying formation and speeding ahead towards the approaching studio building.

Ace watched as she circled around the roof once until, finding what she was looking for, she went around to the back of the building and was out of sight. "Lex, Duck, once we get dere, you two look around and make sure everyone's alright. Tech, Slam, you two come with me. We gotta make sure we give Sive enough time ta get in and find dat award."

"She probably won't need that much time," Tech replied, peering down as they passed over the spot where the net was hidden, "and we don't need to fool him for that long. There aren't many ways this plan can go wrong."

"Don't say that, Tech!" Lexi chastised as they touched down on the ground and ran into the building. "You'll jinx us!"

"Uh, guys? Now's not da best time ta be talkin' 'bout dis," Ace advised as they turned a corner, only to duck back as they were immediately shot at by their thief. "We've got a plan ta carry out!"

**xoxoxoxox**

Phasing only her head through the ceiling of the room, Sive checked around and, only once she was sure she was still alone, allowed the rest of her to phase through, flipping once to neatly land on her feet as she surveyed the room. The sheer number of awards scattered about on shelves and tables, some in glass cases and others out in the open and collecting dust, made her wonder just how long that studio had existed. The award vault in total looked to be about the size of their training room, only it had many extra walls jutting into the room for added shelving space. Lights from the ceiling reflected off the gold-colored paint on the awards, making it almost unbearably bright. Just behind her, a massive, double-plated door stood, keeping all others out. She could just barely hear the sounds of a fight outside.

"Now if I were a big, flashy record, where would I hide?" Sive asked herself as she surveyed the room. The only problem; she had no idea what a record _was, _let alone _seen_ one before. There were multiple things in the room she couldn't identify, be they small figurines on top of statues to the large, somehow significant disks hung about the room with names and dates written under them. And all of it was gold plated. However, none of it appeared to be related to what she was looking for.

Rounding a corner of one of the display walls, she stopped short, dumbly staring at the scene in front of her. "…Well," she said after a moment, her usual sarcastic note in place, "I guess if I had anything of any major value, I'd put it on display in the most obvious place, too."

Right in front of her was a massive exhibit. A few spotlights at different angles shone down on the large pedestal, painted to look like real wood. A bronze plaque describing what the glass case above it contained was drilled into the base, and inside, resting atop the pedestal on a stand, a large, golden disk- _record_, apparently- sat, the word CENTENNIAL embossed across the front.

Phasing one arm through the glass, Sive gently removed the record from its stand, before quickly phasing her other hand through so she didn't drop it; for gold being such a light metal, the award was surprisingly heavy. "You know, when I joined up with a group of superheroes, I didn't think that I'd be using my skills as a petty thief so much," she said to herself thoughtfully, hefting the record up to look at it, wondering if all of them were this heavy. The thing really did weigh a ton, and it was with a sinking heart that she realized that she wouldn't be able to run at her usual speedy pace while holding onto it.

Sharply turning around as a loud banging that sounded like explosive laser shots hitting the vault door, she realized that her time was up. Sive looked about the room quickly, praying for inspiration, before she spotted something that gave her an idea.

**xoxoxoxox**

The Loonatics had given up without much of a fight. The fact that there were only three of them helped; it did seem pretty stupid that, based on all of the trouble they'd been having, they'd send half of their force off to check the building for anyone still inside, but they _were_ the good guys, after all, and the safety of their public did come first. It seemed to be an overall off day for them; the big purple one, during their fight, had even eliminated the most difficult part of the lock on the vault after being tripped up. A few laser shots were all that was required to get the door open after the Loonatics had fled.

Zipping into the room, one quick shot to the camera and another to the fuse box hiding behind a few trophies were all that was needed to feel comfortable to stop moving.

"Look-at-all-this-gold!" the speedy persona exclaimed gleefully. "We'll-never-be-able-to-carry-all-this-back!"

"Remember: Only one thing here is real. The prize should be towards the back," the slower persona said, voice still eerily devoid of any emotion, "and behind a wall, in a corner."

The thief took off at a rocket's pace towards the back, easily seeing the spotlights in the darkness, still running on backup battery power. However, he stopped short, still in the shadows, upon seeing the empty case.

"Wha-? This-isn't-right! Where-is-the-golden-CD?" the rash speedy persona asked indignantly, eyeing the empty case with frustration and annoyance.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's called a 'record'," a voice that didn't belong to either persona stated innocently from somewhere behind.

Sive could see the slight shift in the shadow as the thief turned to where she had been hiding herself even more effectively than he behind a large pedestal bearing a silvery microphone. Her tone of complete innocence only increased as she held up a gold record, asking, "Looking for this?"

"You-don't-know-who-you're-messing-with-chica," the speedy one intoned. Sive could practically hear the devilish smirk in his voice.

She saw a dim red light, indicating the business end of a charging laser gun, pointing in her direction. Of course, the thief didn't even bother to think that she could zap him with a few hundred thousand volts in the blink of an eye if she actually felt threatened; but that wouldn't have been according to plan. "Just hand it over, and no one needs to get hurt," the slow one advised, jerking the gun in her direction once just to make sure she got the picture. "This can be resolved nice and easy."

Sive smirked. "Sorry, but I don't do 'easy'."

She would've paid a lot of money to see the look on his face as she tipped over backward, phasing through the wall and ending up outside, about forty stories up, and rapidly falling towards the ground. Activating her jetpack before passing the thirtieth floor, she allowed herself to slowly continue her descent, aiming for the entrance to the park across the street and idling her jetpack engine at about ten feet up as she looked back, staring intently at the main entrance of the recording studio across the street.

Not two minutes later, the doors burst open, and a dark blur ran out of the range of the streetlights and over to the side of the building, near where she should have been little more than sidewalk art on the ground before stopping. Giving a sudden boost to her jetpack engine before abruptly cutting it off and landing on her feet, she chanced a quick look back before darting into the dense trees just off of the main path in the park. Sure enough, the noise had attracted the attention of the thief, and he was now hot in pursuit.

Running at her top speed, which was pretty fast, though still no match for the speedster hot on her tail, Sive put some added distance between her and her target by weaving through the trees, using her phasing powers to take paths that no one could possibly follow without abruptly becoming one with nature. This kept enough distance between her and the gun-toting thief such that she wasn't forced to dodge random laser fire every few seconds and could focus instead on the plan.

Breaking through the trees and making a sharp right turn, she moved so she was running on her toes at full sprint to keep her marginal lead over the thief. Now, they were on a wide, paved path lit sporadically by streetlights; there would be no reason for him to shoot, seeing as he could catch up to her with a boost of speed. She could hear him burst through the foliage behind her, snapping twigs and sending leaves flying, and she could hear the sound of quick feet gaining up on her on the path.

Now, at this point, most would be wondering "Why not have Slam or Duck do this? They could escape the thief much easier than Sive can." While this was true, there was one thing that she could do that they couldn't that was imperative to the plan.

Passing between another set of streetlights, Sive phased, and could feel the thin elastic wire net, strung up vertically between the lights, pass through her, the tingle feeling stranger than normal with such a thin and sporadically placed object passing through her. She didn't slow her pace until she heard two- _two? -_startled shouts behind her, the sound of the net snapping up at the top and falling down to trap its catch.

Stopping and breathing heavily from the exertion, Sive allowed herself a quick moment to catch her breath before turning and facing her catch. The others weren't far behind her, and she was sure that they couldn't wait to see who it was that was still thrashing around in the net, limbs sporadically poking through the holes in the netting before disappearing again in a bit to disentangle himself. Once he wasn't tangled in it, he stopped his wild struggling, though still squirmed around. Sive wasn't worried; unless he was the size of a four year old, there was no fitting through the holes in the netting.

Of course, this thinking crashed down around her like the roof of a shoddily constructed building as HALF the dark shadow of the thief stood up, easily slid through a hole in the net and rocketed towards Sive. She was too shocked at the turn of events to react quick enough, and this resulted in her being drop-kicked in the chest by what felt like a miniature high-speed wrecking ball, resulting in her losing her hold on the record, flying back a few feet and roughly landing on her back. The hit dazed and winded her, and by the time she got it together enough to sit up, the one who had hit her was back where he had started, award in hand, while his other half freed himself from the net much more slowly.

She couldn't help the dumbstruck look she was sure she was wearing. Now that she could clearly see what they were dealing with standing near the net just below the streetlights, she could confirm that yes, the thief was anthro, but they had _gravely _miscalculated. On the other hand, it did explain why it looked as though he'd been talking to himself.

"Ha! You-think-you-can-stop-us-that-easily?" the one holding the record taunted, revealing that he was the speedy persona with his speech, though his earlier speed boost somewhat gave him away.

"Now you've done it…" the slower one said as he slowly, _finally_ pulled himself out. He moved just as slowly as he talked, still just as monotone as before.

To explain this phenomenon, one must have some knowledge of anthros. Anthros came about due to evolutionary oddities in certain parts and communities of certain species. In order to survive, adopting some human-like qualities became necessary. This led to development similar to humans, namely, the development of tools for use in the wild while adapting human-like traits to be able to make and use more effective tools; humans themselves learning of their existence helped this along much more rapidly. Eventually they became so advanced so as to be able to integrate into human society with little complaint, though there were always a few anti-anthro groups out there.

While anthros were now viewed as an undeniable part of modern society, there were still wide variations resulting from different species becoming anthros; unlike humans and their original variations of species becoming one universal race, anthros still varied greatly. They still had their fur, tails, beaks, feathers, etcetera, along with other animal-like qualities such as their respective sounds, quirks, and abilities, but one major defining factor for some was size. The average anthro, typically originating from a species that was fairly small, was typically shorter than the average human (so long as those with long ears weren't counted.)

Mice were one of these.

Instead of dealing with one fairly short thief, they were dealing with two _very _short mice, one no doubt propping the other up on his shoulders to achieve Tech's estimated height from the video footage. The previously dubbed 'speedy persona' was shorter than his companion, standing at no taller than two and a half feet (excluding his massive ears, and evidently surprisingly strong for his size, seeing as he could hold the record easily,) while the other, slower one was much skinnier and stood closer to three feet, and bore an expression that made it seem as though he were bored out of his mind by everything. They both wore similar outfits- black shirts, pants, and Zorro-style masks- but they also both wore sashes; the shorter one had green, while the taller had red. The slow one was the hotshot with the gun; the quick one appeared to be unarmed.

"I'll-say-this," the shorter one continued, as though completely unaware of Sive's shock, "the-net-was-a-good-idea, but-you-had-no-clue-that-you-were-up-against-the-greatest-duo-ever, Jet-Torres-and-Slo-Mo-Lopez!"

…Well, that answered another question.

The taller one, apparently Slo-Mo, facepalmed. (Sive couldn't help but notice how appropriate the name was, considering it took him a few seconds to successfully carry out the action.) "Months of careful planning, only to go up in all of thirty seconds. Muy bien, tonto*."

Sive was still shocked by the turn of events, but wasn't as completely floored as before; she was aware enough to see that she had an opportunity to make a quick getaway while they bickered. Carefully getting into a crouching position, making sure to make to obscenely obvious movements that would draw the attention of the unwitting mice, she angled herself to be able to spring up and dart back into the trees. With a few quick, furtive glances at the oblivious pair, she tensed herself, ready to spring.

She caught the flash of the laser out of the corner of her eye.

Redirecting herself, she jumped back, performing a backward summersault for added distance and to end up on her feet again as she balefully glared at the mice, a smoking, discolored area where she had previously been now between them.

"Lo siento, chica, but we cannot just let you go now," Slo-Mo stated in what may have been meant to be a tone of regret.

"Yeah, you've-seen-too-much," Jet, (also appropriately named, Sive noticed,) agreed, though he was far less serious about it. And yet, the other may have been just as jibbing; she couldn't tell without at least _some _inflection in his voice, and he moved too slowly to have any visual tells.

"So, that means you two are going to try to either off me or "make me disappear" or something of the like, right?" Sive asked, watching the taller one slowly approach. She allowed some electricity to crackle about her, blue eyes turning bright green in the odd Loonatic glow. "Good luck with that."

The mouse stopped, turning and stowing his gun in a holster on his belt before facing the now quite menacing coyote again. The other appeared ready to run in at any moment, but relaxed with a gesture from his taller companion. "No, no, nothing so violent. In fact, this should not hurt a bit." Then, _his _eyes began to glow as well; an odd yellow, one Sive remembered the connotations of.

The first robbery; the video footage Zadavia showed them; the yellow flash; everyone forgetting what had just transpired.

"_He's a memory wiper," _Tech had concluded.

Reacting on pure instinct, she allowed herself, _all _of herself, to phase, watching as the mouse in front of her gradually seemed taller, until her head followed the rest of her in her straight shot through the ground.

**xoxoxoxox**

"…In my defense, I didn't think she would do that on solid ground," Slo-Mo concluded after the few moments it took him to process how his target had just seemingly melted into the paved path under his feet.

"What's-the-big-deal-if-they-know-who-we-are?" Jet asked. "We-don't-have-anything-important-tied-to-our-identities."

"It is them knowing that there are two of us to deal with that is the problem," Slo-Mo stated. He looked as though he were about to elaborate, but was interrupted as they both turned towards the entrance to the park, hearing the unmistakable sound of approaching sirens and jetpack engines.

"I'll explain later. We have what we came for," he concluded, painstakingly slowly turning to his companion, "so we should-"

"There's-no-time-for-you-to-give-a-speech-hombre!" Jet interrupted. In a movement to quick to process, he swept his partner in crime up onto his shoulders, handing over the record before zipping down the path. "We've-got-to-get-out-of-here! The-fuzz-is-hot-on-our-tails!"

"I was just about to say that," Slo-Mo commented, but sounded as though he didn't really care about the interruption as he stared at his prize.

**xoxoxoxox**

The office seemed…overcrowded these days, and yet there were never more than two people inside at any one time. Rev assumed it had to do with the extra desk they'd assembled and shoved in across from his father's; he couldn't remember the last time the layout of the room had changed.

He wasn't sure he liked it.

Working a desk job every day for weeks on end, one may assume that Rev, being a naturally active person, would have snapped a while ago from the excess energy. It had been like that, at first; he'd insist on running every little errand (even though his parents would berate him for not taking the car to do them,) and while working, he'd always make some fidgety movements- tapping his feet, rearranging the desk and the like- until Pa got annoyed enough to tell him to stop. Neither of his parents seemed to like it when he used his powers at all; to be fair, it would be hard to work over all that.

But now, Rev found himself feeling very lethargic, with absolutely no drive to work. He didn't see why. He should have been happy with his position; his dad had immediately found him a high-ranking position in the company as a senior project manager, on the fast track to being a major part of the company. All projects in the company crossed his desk at some point. It paid well, and he never even had to leave the house to do his work; everything could be done through email. There were times he wished he was working on the assembly floor, inventing and building new toys for himself instead of looking at other people's ideas in pictures, and it would certainly have helped get some energy out of his system; but again, he couldn't argue with how good his position turned out to be.

With these thoughts in mind, the roadrunner turned his full focus back on his work, determined to get something productive done. This new resolve lasted all of three minutes. His typing pace began to slow; the words on the screen began to melt together to the point where he was rereading lines over and over again to try to decipher what they meant. Eventually, he stopped altogether, pushing his keyboard away and burying his face in his arms upon his desk.

He didn't want to work a desk job.

He didn't want to work on an assembly floor, either.

What he really wanted was to be helping his friends. Despite his parent's attempts to try separating him from the goings-on in Acmetropolis since he'd left, saying that it was no longer his concern, he could be found fervently checking news sites on his computer whenever he was alone in the office. The amount of trouble the thief was giving his teammates- _ex_-teammates- was worrying. He was starting to get seriously afraid that something bad was going to happen; he remembered how skilled the thief had been during their one meeting, and felt awful about leaving his teammates alone to deal with it when his speed had been a key advantage.

Straightening up and pulling his keyboard back towards him, he went on to a website of a major Acmetropolis news station. Ignoring the segment about Misty Breeze on the homepage, he scrolled down to the Loonatics heading, (the Loonatics being popular enough to have their own headline,) and was sad to find that nothing new had been posed since he'd last checked an hour ago.

"Why be sneaky about it?" a voice suddenly asked behind Rev, making him jump practically out of his chair and spin around. Rip appeared to be very amused with this display. "If I were you, I'd wave it around in Pa's face that I was ignoring him."

"Unlike-you-Rip-I-want-to-try-avoiding-getting-my-parents-ticked-off-at-me," Rev replied, pouting a bit at how easily his brother had surprised him. He hadn't even heart the office door open… "WAIT-A-SECOND-you're-in-Pa's-office-you're-not-supposed-to-be-in-here!" Rev shouted. It was true; Pa still hadn't allowed Rip into his office, not that Rip seemed to particularly care.

"Yeah, like Ma and Pa are suddenly going to start noticing me again," Rip said sarcastically, though there was still some bite to his voice. "You, on the other hand, I think are receiving too much attention from them. You need to stop listening to them before you suffer some sort of breakdown."

Rev shook his head, sitting back down in his chair. "It's-not-that-simple-Rip-they're-my-family-I-can't-just-ignore-their-wishes."

"You can if it gets in the way of what you want," Rip argued, before thinking a moment. "So long as what you want isn't destructive in any way. I don't think wanting to be a crime fighter falls under that category."

"I-can-sort-of-see-where-they're-coming-from-with-their-concerns-though," Rev conceded, not meeting his brother's increasingly annoyed look. "I-mean-Ma-did-say-how-she-was-always-worried-about-me-getting-hurt-on-the-job."

"And Dad's leading argument of no pay?" Rip retorted. "Rev, I get it; I'm the rebel, you're the Momma's boy." Rev looked like he wanted to seriously argue that, but Rip continued quick enough to stop even his speedy brother. "However, when they start interfering with your life like this, you need to stand up for yourself!"

"But-they're-my-parents-they're-just-doing-what-they-think-is-best-for-me!"

"What they think is best and what _is _best are two completely different things!" Rip shouted, raising his voice for the first time in what must have been forever. "Rev, you need to realize that at this point, they've lost sight of what's important! Yes, having a good job and high pay and whatever is good, but it's not what makes you happy. You've slowed down the past couple of weeks, and you're not even aware enough to realize it anymore! They disguise it by saying that all they want is the best for you, but really it's just what makes them happy; seeing you high up in the family business. They don't give a damn about what makes you happy, Rev. You need to start speaking up for yourself. I'd do it, but they won't give me the time of day. Unless _you _do something, nothing is going to change. You'll be stuck behind that desk for the rest of your life, and both you and I know that isn't what you want."

Neither spoke after that, and now Rev _really_ wouldn't look at his brother. He was mad that Rip would say such things about their parents, but also embarrassed because, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, some part of him deep down knew that he was right. His parents seemed to have understood both of their sons better after the Robo-Amigo incident all that time ago; now they weren't even back at square one, but somewhere miles behind it. It made Rev feel more than guilty that he had let his parents stew so long over this that they reacted this way; but again that one part of him recognized how unfairly things were playing out for him. However, he was the one who didn't recognize these fears earlier; it was, technically speaking, his fault. The least he could do was try to go on like this, the way they wanted, for a while until he could work out some sort of compromise.

All while Rev was thinking this, Rip stood there, waiting to see how Rev would react. Noticing that his older brother was lost in thought, he left just as quietly as he came, leaving his brother to think for himself, and hoping that he would come to his senses soon.

**A/N: TWO?! …Probably wasn't that surprising, really, but whatever. If I knew more about psychology, I may have made it some kind of major personality disorder, but unfortunately, they don't offer AP Psych at my high school until you're a senior or if you didn't take science when you are a freshman (which I did,) so instead of trying to teach myself an entire class or wing it, I figured it was the better way to go. **

**Props to anyone who notices who the thieves are based off of from Looney Tunes! Jet is Speedy Gonzales' descendant, while Slo-Mo is related to the lesser known (but still just as awesome) Slowpoke Rodriguez. (He seriously only appeared in two episodes, but was pretty epic in both.) **

**I originally intended to have another part included in this chapter and leave it hanging elsewhere, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't go down from my head to the keyboard correctly, so I decided to postpone until a later date. (Namely, what will hopefully be two weeks from now.) I have a major project this week, but should be free during the upcoming week to type, so I have high hopes for on-timey-ness. Don't quote me on that, though.**

**Reviews make me squee! (Which is why I no longer check my email in math class.) **

*Very good, idiot.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well, semester finals snuck up on me, kidnapped me, and chained me to my desk yet again. I never see them coming until one of my teachers says a day or two before break "Oh, yeah, by the way, finals are Monday, good luck." DX The good news is, I'm back, and I bring a ridiculously long chapter. I had originally planned for this to have the same content as it does now, but be about the same length as a regular chapter. 16 pages and 7,100 words later, that didn't happen. (And here I thought I swore off stupidly long chapters like this…An hour and a half of editing is just nuts!) I did want to get this out before Christmas, though, so consider this a gift from me to you! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then have a random present! Happy Holidays everybody!**

**So, this chapter has little by way of action, but a lot of development and a TechxSive part. This could've technically been divided into two or three chapters, but I got to page 10 in typing it up and thought, "Screw it! I'm late, anyway!" No Rev in this chapter, but a lot of other stuff. I hope to have another chapter up before break is over, and it shouldn't be as unwieldy as this one, so until then, enjoy!**

**Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Halloween Witch, Candlestic, Luna 246, and Angelus Draco for all of your kind words. Happy Holidays to you all!**

**And on a side note, Slowpoke Rodriguez only appears in two Looney Tunes episodes, "Mexicali Schmoes" and "Mexican Boarders" to the best of my knowledge. If anyone knows of any other appearances, please share your knowledge! (And if you watch them, you'll see how canonically accurate I'm being!)**

Ace, Duck, and Tech flew up over the treetops, taking an aerial shortcut to where their trap had been set up. Tech had set the net so that when it was pulled free of its ties on the lamp posts that suspended it off the ground, it would activate sensors that would send an alert to his comm. It was essentially an all-clear signal. They had immediately left the building when it went off, leaving Lexi and Slam to continue scouting for anyone inside the studio.

Duck, quacking far ahead of his teammates, got there first. Inspecting the empty net and the equally empty pathway with a critical eye, he activated his comm. "Uh, Tech? Is the net supposed to be empty?"

"...What?" came the less than enthused reply as the now thoroughly disgruntled coyote cleared the trees, landing nearby the empty net. The wire was thin enough that they could barely see it, only able to make out a little of the metallic netting that reflected the dim light of the street lamps above; the fact that it was empty, however, was clear as day.

"I don't get it," Tech growled, his tone matching his frustrated look as he inspected all parts of the trap from the suspension system on the lamps to the limp netting on the ground before repeating the process. "This plan was foolproof; simple yet elegant. Unless he saw the net- which he didn't, seeing as it was tripped- then nothing should have gone wrong!"

"Maybe Sive ran into it by mistake," Duck suggested bitingly. "You're not the only one who's been off your game lately."

"Dat also applies ta you, hot shot," Ace cut in as he gently landed on the path, purposely moving slowly seeing as he wasn't really paying attention to flying; he was still trying to clear tar off his ears and face from a poorly thrown egg in their earlier brawl with the thief.

Tech looked as though he was about to fire off a snappy retort, when something about what Duck had said resonated with him. The coyote turned away from his teammates, taking another, more frantic look round the area. This time, though, he paid no attention to his failed contraption; Ace noticed the change, but Duck did not.

"Tech, nothing's changed since last time you looked," the mallard deadpanned, looking at the inventor like he'd suddenly gone completely nuts. "Your trap _still _didn't work."

"No, it's not that," Tech replied, only partially paying attention to the mallard and not taking any notice of the stinging comment. Finding no trace of what he was looking for, he turned back to the other two, worry painted all over his face. "Where's Sive?"

**xoxoxoxox**

She was prepared for the sudden drop and ready for the distance of said fall. The uneven landing surface, however, took her by surprise; one foot landed at a slightly different level than the other, resulting in her slipping off of the higher surface and landing on her rear.

"Well, at least it's not a sewer..." she muttered to herself, grateful that the ground was dry as she got back to her feet and dusted herself off. Sending a small amount of electricity to her hand, allowing it to leave her body and arc between her fingers to act as a flashlight, she turned to inspect what she had fallen over.

"A subway?" she asked herself, inspecting the rusty rail on the ground. She could only think that a train would use rails like that, and the tunnel locale meant that it had to be part of the subway system. "_Old_ subway," she corrected herself, spotting another equally rusty and slightly cracked rail a few feet away from the first. If the dilapidated rails themselves weren't an indicator, the fact that there were two of them was a dead giveaway; everything train-related had gone monorail a while ago. On top of all that, there was a fine covering of dust and dirt over everything, and no illumination at all in the tunnel aside from her hand. The old cement walls were cracked, and looked to be covered in mold in places; some roots had even managed to grow their way through the ceiling and slip in through cracks, pasting themselves along the walls. Old lamp covers, dusty and broken from disuse, were placed high up on the wall; some had more strange plant life growing out of them. Something just out of the range of her limited light scurried away noisily.

"Lovely," she dryly concluded, temporarily deactivating her light to turn on her comm. without electrocuting the system. "Can anybody hear me?"

Static. Of course, since she was underground and surrounded by a few yards of cement, it was expected.

She rolled her eyes and huffed in frustration, reactivating her light with more power as something else skittered away. "Saw that coming..."

The ceiling was too high up for her to be able to jump up and phase through back to ground level, and there was nothing else that looked even remotely like an exit that she could see. She knew she had to get out quickly; she wanted to tell her team what she had found out about the thief- or, rather, _thieves_. Plus, she figured they'd be worried.

Knowing that the old tracks met up with the new ones in many places, but having no idea _where_ any of those places were, nor where in the system she currently was, she extended one hand, pointing directly in front of her, closed her eyes, and spun around for a moment. She stopped and opened her eyes to find that she was pointing down one of the two dark tunnels open to her. Shrugging her shoulders and increasing the power of her light, she started walking.

**xoxoxoxox**

"Sive, can ya hear me?" Ace asked again through the comm. Again, he only received static.

"The tracer in her comm. isn't even sending a signal," Tech stated, angry at himself. He could figure out for himself what must have happened; the trap would have worked, capturing the thief, but he had completely forgotten about the thief's ability to wipe memories, and had subsequently not warned Sive of this possibility. She had probably been wiped of all memory of the thief, and then it would have taken little work to cajole Sive into freeing him. God knows what may have happened afterwards.

"How's dat possible?" Ace asked, waving a signal to keep looking to Duck as the mallard passed overhead, having completed another aerial circle around the area in his own search for the wayward coyote. "I thought the tracers had stronger signals dan da communications?"

"They do, but if it's damaged, it's worthless," Tech explained, not even bothering to consider the possibility of it being out of range. There wasn't much the tracer signal couldn't get through, and he couldn't think of anywhere in the area Sive could've gone in that short amount of time that was able to block their signal.

"No reason ta think da worst, Tech. Out of all of us, Sive's da one who works best on her own," Ace reasoned. However, just because he said that didn't mean he wasn't worried; he always felt somewhat responsible whenever anyone on his team was hurt. Missing could be even worse.

Tech was about to share his reasoning on the matter with Ace, their comms. pinged. The coyote had never moved faster to take a call, not even checking who it was. "Sive?!" he asked frantically.

"_Uh, no, it's Lexi_," the bunny replied, sounding slightly confused at the odd behavior from the coyote but brushing it off quickly. "_Something's up over here at the studio. We found some workers, but they seem…off."_

"How so?" Ace asked, continuing the call as Tech signed off and continued to fiddle with his comm. system, trying to locate the missing coyote.

"_You'd need to see it." _Lexi replied.

"Alright, I'm on my way," Ace replied, deactivating his comm. "Tech, you and Duck keep lookin'. Me, Lex, and Slam'll join ya when we can."

"Right," Tech replied, taking off into the air with Ace to join Duck in his search.

**xoxoxoxox**

The old, rusty door blended in so well with her dark and dank surroundings, Sive would have missed it had another unseen critter not squeaked, drawing her attention in that direction. No mold grew on the old metal, which was the only reason it stood out enough for her to take interest in it. A door normally would have been a welcome sight in that situation, but based on its condition- it looked as though if she pushed hard enough, its hinges would disintegrate and it would fall over- it didn't seem like it would lead anywhere helpful. However, it was the first sign of anything she had seen in a while, so she used a small burst of electricity to make a mark in the mold on the wall on the side of the door closest to the tunnel she'd just come out of, telling her where she'd been in the event she was forced to come back, before phasing through the door, holding the phase until she was well away from the rust billowing outward like dust bunnies.

It was just as dark in the new tunnel as the old tunnel. When she turned her light on again, she found that it was just as big as the old one, too, however there were no tracks in this one; just old pavers and concrete walls that had seen better days. A set of stairs led upward, and having nowhere else to go, she followed them, phasing through another old door and ending up in another similar looking tunnel. There was only one major difference, and that was all she took notice of; the noise coming from one end of the tunnel. It looked promising, she decided, so she followed it, phasing through clumps of cobwebs and locked, rusty gates as needed.

Not very long later, she came upon a dead end. The wall and floor were constructed as though there had been an open archway where there was now wall. That section in front of her stood out; it was made of bricks, and while it didn't look recent, it was definitely newer than the rest of the tunnel by a few decades, at least. On top of that, the noise was loudest here; she could make out train engines moving away, and what sounded like lots of people.

The old and new stations were probably open together at some point, she reasoned. They must've closed off the entrances to the old station after closing it down. _That means this'll probably lead me to the current subway..._

Knocking on the walls to make sure, she did find that the brick wall sounded hollow in comparison to the concrete. Backing up with a sigh, hoping she wasn't making a mistake, she ran at the wall, not giving herself time to think as she jumped and phased through at the last moment.

She had wisely shut her eyes before leaping; the bright light of the subway tunnel probably would have blinded her after exiting the comparative darkness. Landing lightly on her feet, it took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to realize that her suspicions had been right; the old tunnel had led right to the modern Acmetropolis Monorail Subway System. She had ended up in the middle of the brightly illuminated platform, ticket vendors and stairs standing on either end and dozens of people in between. Most were too busy with their morning commute to take notice of her sudden appearance, but one little girl nearby was desperately trying to get her mother's attention, pointing at Sive in shock and awe.

Sive took a moment to smile and wave at the astounded child before running away, up the stairs to the equally busy city streets above. She immediately turned to her comm., but found that it was still searching for a signal to reconnect to. With a huff of irritation, knowing she _really _didn't have time for this, she took off down the street on foot, knowing better than to try taking off on her jetpack in such a busy area.

She made it to a much less populated side street before stopping and fiddling with her jetpack, intent on taking to take to the skies to figure out just where the heck she was, when something slammed into her from behind.

**xoxoxoxox**

Ace flew in through the open window he'd left from earlier, allowing him to reach Lexi and Slam in only a few minutes after leaving the park. They were in a recording room a few floors down from the vault. The bright lights reflected off of the advanced equipment and soundproof glass separating the two areas of the room. All occupants were gathered near the equipment; along with Lexi and Slam, four men were congregated there. One had a large set of headphones around his neck and was fiddling with some equipment; he was shaggier in appearance than the other three. Two looked very official, both in suits and radiating an air of better-than-you-ness; both were on their phones and too busy to deal with the new arrivals. The third was somewhere in between in dress, but much better looking than any of the others by far.

"Hey, Ace," Lexi greeted, striding forward with a look of confusion. "Where are the others?"

"Sive's MIA, dey're lookin' for her," Ace replied quietly, seeing no need to alert the people they were supposed to be helping that they had lost track of one of their own. "I'm sure she's just fine, Lex," he reassured upon seeing her look of worry. "Duck and Tech are lookin' for her, let's deal with dis and we'll join 'em."

"Alright," Lexi conceded, her tone telling him just how much she would rather look for her friend. She shook it off quickly, though, and turned back towards the other occupants of the room; the sooner they were done there the sooner they could find their missing friend. Of course, this issue didn't seem like it would be an easy fix…

"Ace, these guys were the only ones in the building at the time. They were recording some new material when the robbery took place. The thief would have had to have passed them to get to the vault, and yet they claim not to have seen anyone. On top of that, when I told them what had happened, they didn't react at all to hearing about their most prestigious award being stolen."

"Interestin'," Ace concluded, approaching the group with Lexi. "Anythin' else out of da ordinary?"

"Yes. It seems minor, but I think it's probably related to this," Lexi said, walking up to the good looking man. "Ace, I'd like you to meet Hunter Davis."

"Hey, it's the team leader himself!" Hunter exclaimed in a smooth voice; Ace concluded that he must have been the one there with the singing talent. "I'm a huge fan of what you guys do; keeping the city safe for us and all that. Hey, think we could do a publicity shoot later?"

Ace gave him a skeptical look. "Uh, sure, we'll have your people talk ta our people."

"Great!" Ace wished he could see the expression on the young man's face when he realized that the Loonatics publicity "people" was Duck; he was the only one of them even remotely interested in major publicity. One of the guys in suits called him over, and he left without any other acknowledgement.

"And da significance of dat was…?" Ace began.

"Did you see his eyes?" Lexi asked.

"I wasn't really payin' attention ta dem. I don't tend ta pay much attention ta other guys' eyes," Ace deadpanned.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Humor me, Ace."

Ace obeyed, thankful for his excellent vision as he furtively peered at Hunter from across the room, easily able to make out what Lexi was talking about; the whites of his eyes were yellow. "I guess dey look a little yellow, but dat could just mean he smokes or drinks a lot."

"I can guarantee that he doesn't, Ace; all the magazines say so," Lexi stated matter-of-factly.

"Magazines?"

"You have no idea who he is, do you."

"None whatsoever."

Lexi groaned, giving an exasperated look at the ceiling before turning back to her celebrity-challenged boyfriend. "He's the lead singer for the band Wing Morning, one of the most popular bands in the world. There's a feature article about him in some magazine at least once a week, not to mention all sorts of TV interviews. I've seen and read them all, and I can guarantee that his eyes aren't usually that color."

"It could be airbrushing or color contacts or something'," Ace reasoned, mentally rolling his eyes at his girlfriend's obsession.

"It _could_, but what are the odds that all _four_ of these guys have the same eye problem?"

At that, Ace quickly scanned the other occupants of the room, most of which were now talking with a befuddled Slam, confused because of their complete lack of reaction to anything. Lexi was right; all four of them had yellowed eyes. If they found this odd about each other, though, they weren't saying anything, but the odds of finding a group of people who need to keep an image with that kind of naturally occurring issue were slim.

"Dey wouldn't happen ta have cameras in here, would dey?" Ace asked Lexi, hoping to find a way around speaking with the unaware targets of robbery.

"Slam and I asked, and the taller one in the suit said no. He apparently owns the company, and the building," Lexi explained.

"Who're de other two?"

"The frowzy one works here as a recorder, but the other one is Hunter's agent."

"Ah." Ace then approached the group, feeling as though he should see the memory lapse issue for himself. Before he could get the chance, Duck suddenly quacked in, appearing over the chair in front of the equipment and taking a seat, paying no attention to the startled recording men.

"Sive's beacon went off; Tech's picking her up," the mallard stated without preamble. "What's going on over here?"

"We were just about ta find out," Ace replied before turning to the employees of the company, all of which were now paying attention to the Loonatics. "So, what were you all doin' at da time of da robbery?"

"We were robbed?" the company owner asked. He sounded as though even if Ace said yes, it wouldn't bother him much. Slam privately made the cuckoo hand motion from behind the oblivious victims.

"Yeah, not even half an hour ago," Duck deadpanned, talking as though it were to a small child. "You know, your Centenni-whatsit?"

"Oh! The Centennial?" The man paused. "When did this happen again?"

"What were ya doin' half an hour ago?" Ace asked, trying a different tactic.

"We were practicing some new stuff with Hunter in here," the agent answered. "And then… I don't really remember."

"Were you all recording at the time?" Lexi asked, peering at the high-tech equipment and tentatively poking at it. "It would be a big help if we could listen to it. It could give us some clue as to what happened."

"Don't mess with that!" the scruffy employee exclaimed in a rough voice, diving between Lexi and the equipment. "I have this all specifically calibrated for work with Hunter! It took me hours to do!"

"Plus, that's all copywrited, yet-to-be-released material," the agent added with a withering look at the Loonatics.

Ace met the glare with a hard look of his own. "We could always just get a court order. Dat recordin' does qualify as evidence in a robbery, ya know."

"What robbery?" the company manager asked dumbly. Duck shot the older man a look that was somewhere between disbelief and exasperation, but didn't say anything.

Ace sighed and was about to go through the whole routine again, when Hunter interrupted, shooing the scruffy equipment manager out of the way. "Now, now, there's no need for that; they can hear it if they want to, Jordan," he interrupted. The agent, apparently named Jordan, didn't look happy at all with this development, but seemed to think better than to argue with the young musician. Ace almost thought better of the arrogant young man, until he continued with, "Yeah; no reason to deny my adoring fans a chance to listen to my awesome vocal skills!"

"Uh, yeah, whatever you say, Doc," Ace allowed with a roll of his eyes, deciding not to argue seeing as he was allowing them to listen to the tape. Of course, this meant that they had to sit through a little over ten minutes of him singing bits of random songs; it was quickly apparent that he was the type to rely on autotune. He was off-key in many places and for long lengths of time, his voice cracked a lot for someone his age, and he was just overall not pleasant to listen to.

Lexi, with her super-sensitive hearing, was slightly cringing, but doing a great job of hiding it; Duck was staring at the speaker systems with increasing horror; Slam, from his spot from behind everyone else, was able to get away with covering his ears; Ace chose that time to practice his poker face. However, his relief a couple of minutes in when his comm. went off was obvious.

"I got dis," he said quickly, watching as Duck leapt for the same chance and missed. The bunny completely ignored the mallard's if-looks-could-kill glare as he left the room.

**xoxoxoxox**

Tech continued to glance fervently at the small screen on his comm., watching as Sive's signal got stronger and stronger without really moving much. All he knew was that she had suddenly appeared a couple of miles away from where they'd started, and figuring he could reach her quicker than letting her signal get strong enough for communications to come back online. His earlier suspicions were confirmed as he watched the tracer signal start moving quickly in the exact opposite direction of the park.

Judging by how fast he caught up to her signal, he figured she was on foot; it didn't take too long to find her dashing down a busy city street after that. He was grateful when she turned down a relatively quiet side street, giving him plenty of room to land before following her. She thankfully wasn't running at full speed, otherwise he never would have caught up to her; however, he wasn't prepared for her to suddenly stop and start fiddling with the controls of her jetpack, resulting in a surprise coyote collision.

"Ay dios mio!" Sive shouted in surprised Spanish, arms flailing in an attempt to keep upright with her sudden loss of sure footing. Tech, however, was slightly more prepared than she was; he managed to wrap his arms around her waist and tip himself back enough to keep the both of them from falling over.

Sive quickly twisted around in his grip, intent on slugging whoever-it-was who either meant some sort of harm or had a strange perception of a hug, but stopped short when she came face-to-face with Tech.

"Sive!" he exclaimed louder than he needed to, his panic evident as he moved his grip up to her shoulders to hold her in place. "Are you alright? What happened?" Though he didn't really know what he was looking for, he closely inspected all of the younger coyote; she _seemed_ to be just fine…

"…Are _you_ alright?" Sive asked slowly, not really knowing how to react to Tech's…odd behavior. He wasn't known for panicking, nor did he ever express…well, _anything_ as much as he was then. It was a little unnerving.

Tech would have given her a disapproving look for her inopportune humor had his mind not been elsewhere. "Sive, please be serious and listen; you remember the thief we've been dealing with?"

Sive arched an eyebrow. "The guy who's been wiping the floor with us every chance he gets for the past few weeks? Yeah, I might know him. Better than you, actually-"

"Sive! Serious, please," he interrupted. "You remember how he can wipe memories?"

"Yes, and coincidentally-"

"_Sive!_" he exclaimed sharply. "I'm pretty sure he brainwashed you at the park, so this is really serious."

Sive's face went slack. Tech thought it was from shock; Sive was mentally facepalming, seeing as Tech wasn't giving her enough room to actually carry out the action. Well, that accounted for his strange behavior…sort of…

"Tech," Sive began calmly, putting one hand up in his face to silence him as he tried interrupting again, "I'll admit, the one guy _tried_ it, but I got away before he could. Apparently, there's an old subway track below the path in the park; I phased down there to avoid being wiped and have been wandering around looking for a way out for the past half hour, not wandering around mindless and confused."

Tech's train of thought screeched to a thought. That did account for where she'd been and why they couldn't find her, and wasn't the immediate worst-case scenario he'd thought it was. "You're sure he didn't wipe you?"

Sive nodded. "Positive."

"Then how did he escape from the trap?" Tech asked, giving the younger coyote a critical eye. At her are-you-serious look, he defended himself by saying, "I just want to make sure. And also, I'm curious as to how it failed. Did the net just miss or something?"

"No, it got him. Well, not so much 'him' as _them_…" At Tech's questioning look (whether it was her words or her sanity he was questioning, she didn't bother pondering,) she continued. "Ace and Lexi were right; they're anthros. The only thing is, they're mice; one standing on the other's shoulders to get to your estimated height. It's not a split personality thing, either; the speedy one is, naturally, the one with the speed, and he goes by Jet Torres. The other one, however, is the one who's both pistol-packing and mind-wiping. The other one called him Slo-Mo Rodriguez."

Tech winced. "The fit through the net, didn't they?"

"It's not like you could've known we were dealing with two pint-sized perps instead of one big one," Sive said reassuringly. "Don't beat yourself up about it. As smart as you are, there's no way to prepare for everything unexpected."

Tech sighed, looking as downcast as he always did when hearing that he wasn't omniscient, as if that was a surprise and major disappointment to the genius. "Yeah, I know. It doesn't mean I'm not going to feel at least a little responsible for this, though."

Sive rolled her eyes, but was too glad to have the usual Tech back to make a sarcastic comment. It was right about then, though, that she realized that Tech was still gripping her tightly about the shoulders, and holding her much closer than was socially acceptable.

"Uh, Tech?" she began, sounding as awkward and uncomfortable as she felt. "Now that you know that I'm in my right mind and all, can you let me go?"

Tech appeared confused for a moment, as though unsure of what she was referring to, when he also realized just how close they still were. "Oh! Sorry!" he started as he quickly released her and took a step back, just as careful to avoid meeting her eyes as she was meeting his. Both were glad to be anthros and the moment; fur was very useful for hiding red cheeks.

The lead-like silence continued for a few long minutes, neither really wanting to say anything. Sive cracked first, nonchalantly asking, "So, where's everybody else?" as she turned back to Tech, attitude and tone suggesting that nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

The other coyote was grateful for the out, and quickly adopted the same act. "They're back at the studio building, I think. Lexi called Ace in, saying something was weird, and Duck followed when I came after you. We should probably tell them that you're okay, actually…"

"Then you're going to have to be the one making the call," Sive stated, peering at her comm. and finding that it still hadn't reconnected to the appropriate signal after her trek underground. "I still have to connect to something."

"I'll probably have to recalibrate that," Tech informed her as he sent the call to Ace, putting his system on speaker. "It took me forever to get our comm.s working again after the Doctor Dare incident. They're not meant for prolonged underground use."

Ace's voice came in then, sounding surprisingly relieved as he said, "_You're timin' is impeccable as always, Tech."_

"Do I want to know?" Tech asked, not even bothering to wait for the negative answer as he continued with, "Sive's fine and still remembers everything. And she apparently knows who the thief is."

"_Thieves, _Tech," Sive corrected. "They're two mice, so they were able to fit through the net. I had to make a creative escape; sorry for the disappearing act."

"_So long as you're still alright, dat's fine," _Ace replied. "_So, who are we dealin' with?"_

"They called themselves Jet Torres and Slo-Mo Rodriguez. Guess which one has which personality," Sive deadpanned. "Jet carries Slo-Mo on his shoulders; it's why they're both so fast. Slo-Mo seems to have all the brainpower and firepower between them, though."

"_Sounds like dis Slo-Mo guy is da one we've gotta look out for," _Ace concluded. _"You two go back ta HQ and run deir names, figure out more about our miniature miscreants. Da rest of us'll finish up over here and meet ya later."_

"Got it, Ace," Tech responded as he shut off his comm. Both of the coyotes then activated their jetpacks and took off into the air, heading for home.

**xoxoxoxox**

Ace reentered the room, displeased to find that the ear-splitting sound apparently known as 'music' was still loudly streaming from the speakers. Strangely enough, the two suits and company employee seemed unaffected; on the other hand, Duck looked ready to crawl out of his feathers, Slam looked more miserable than anyone had ever seen him, and Lexi was being as polite as she possibly could with her overly-affected super hearing while Hunter, hearing her earlier comments and knowing that she was already a fan of his music, was avidly looking to her for compliments. Upon seeing Ace walk back into the room, though, she quietly excused herself and rushed over to Ace, pushing him back outside the room to talk.

"Okay, that was painful," Lexi stated quietly enough that there was no chance she'd be heard over the ruckus back in the room, pulling down her ears and soothingly petting them as though it could help ease the abuse they'd just gone under. "I knew he used a lot of voice editing, but I didn't know he _needed _it so much."

"It's hard ta find someone dese days dat doesn't," Ace commented wryly, before turning more serious as he got to his point. "Dat was Tech; he found Sive. She's fine, and figured out who we're dealin' with."

"Where was she?" Lexi asked relievedly, glad to hear that her friend was okay as she released her ears and turned to Ace. She kept one ear trained on the sounds from the recording room, though, just in case something out of the ordinary did come up in the tape.

"I didn't ask," Ace replied with a shrug. "But accordin' ta her, we've got two guys ta deal with."

Lexi looked skeptically at Ace. "Two? But I thought that Tech reviewed the recordings, and even found an approximate height of the thief."

Ace shook his head. "Dey're mice; one on da other's shoulders. We were right in sayin' dat dey were anthros. Tech and Sive are headin' back to da lab ta run deir names, see if anythin' comes up."

Lexi nodded in understanding, and looked as though she were about to ask more, when her attention was diverted. The iconic pink rings flew up her ears, signaling that she was intently listening to something other than what was right in front of her. "Something's changed in the recording."

Needing no more of an explanation, Ace headed back into the room, Lexi not far behind him. Everyone's attention was now on the apparatus playing back the tape; even Hunter was able to muster a look that suggested he was paying attention. The lack of earsplitting, sorry excuse for talent was a welcome reprieve, but the sounds of panic and general confusion taking its place wasn't the best alternative. All four men could be heard shouting random things; the recording tech sounded startled and was cursing up a storm; the company owner was threatening to call security; the agent was threatening a lawsuit for interrupting a private recording session; Hunter was screaming bloody murder.

Then the eerie, slow, monotone that the three Loonatics were all too familiar with cut in, not speaking very loudly but with more than enough force to silence all of the others. "You didn't see anything out of the ordinary," he said calmly, as though stating a fact no matter how contrary it seemed. "We were never here. Everything is normal." The tape continued, completely silent, for a solid minute or two before their earlier activities sluggishly restarted. The scruffy employee mercifully paused the playback right before Hunter started 'singing' again.

"…Why do I have no memory of this?" the agent asked before turning to the others. "Did that actually happen?"

"Apparently," the employee deadpanned.

The company owner appeared perplexed, but not too bothered, curiously tilting his head a bit to the side. "How do we forget something like that?"

"This guy has the ability to wipe memories," Lexi explained. "We're not sure how to reverse the effects yet, but the affected memories only seem to be related to the crimes he- er, they commit, so it shouldn't have that big of an effect on you all."

"So long as I can still perform, whatever," Hunter said, dismissively shrugging his shoulders.

The severity of the situation, however, seemed to be finally hitting the two men in suits. "Okay," the agent began, approaching Ace with the other not far behind, "could you explain again exactly what happened? What they took and all that?"

So, as Ace began the story for the umpteenth time, this time starting from the very beginning and including the Loonatics' involvement and plan, the other occupants of the room convened around the recording equipment. Duck peered at the tapes curiously. "So, how exactly is this guy some world-renowned singer?"

"Well, this is just a rough, first-time run-through of some new material," the young musician replied defensively. "I haven't had time to practice it, yet." Slam rolled his eyes, and Duck snorted, but Hunter paid them no mind.

"And _I _haven't cleaned it up any," the employee stated, shooing Duck out of his chair as he took a seat and pressed a lot of buttons before playing the tape again, quiet enough so as not to disturb the conversation between his bosses and Ace across the small room. Sure enough, Hunter's voice came through sounding passable, almost enjoyable, even.

"Now this is what I'm used to hearing," Lexi stated, looking as though she were really enjoying the new sounds. Slam, too, had his eyes closed and was happily swaying with the music.

"I'm tone deaf, and with all this equipment, _I _can become a singer," the employee deadpanned snidely to Duck, giving a cross glance at Hunter who was completely oblivious to any bad remarks to his 'talent.'

"You call this music?" Duck asked dubiously as he listened to the remixed Hunter streaming through the speakers. "This is nowhere near the quality that _I _listen to."

Hunter had to react to that direct remark. "Oh, yeah? Then what do you listen to that's so much better?"

Duck pulled out his iPod Shuffle Micro and turned to the employee with a determined look. "Got somewhere I can plug this in?"

Both Lexi and Slam looked a little dubious as the scruffy man took the little music player and found an appropriate cord to plug it into the speaker system. Their previous experience with his taste in everything from movies to fashion was far from enjoyable, but Duck rarely listened to music out loud; they didn't really know what to expect.

It turns out they were right to be wary.

Without warning, right as the recording tech plugged the small music player into the system, ear-splitting noise erupted from the speakers at a deafening volume. If the overall loudness wasn't enough, what was playing was even worse than the un-edited Hunter; it was like a bad cross between techno, metal, and a dying animal. It only played for about three seconds; in that time, everyone in the room jumped, and the agent even screamed. All quickly moved from shock to disgust upon actually hearing what the loud sound was, and none argued when Slam ripped out the cord with a growl, having had more than enough bad music for the day.

"Heh," Duck laughed nervously, having the grace to look chastened as everyone glared at him, "didn't realize it was playing."

Ace was about to berate Duck for his carelessness when he was interrupted by an anguished cry. All of the Loonatics immediately turned to the source, shocked to find a pale agent and a seriously disturbed company owner. Much to their surprise, Hunter looked to be frightened as well, followed by the employee suddenly starting to tremble.

"It's gone!" the owner continued, having been the one to shout. "So many years of work to get it, and within a month, the Centennial gets stolen! How could this happen?!"

"That one guy had a _gun,_ man," Hunter said, sounding as though he were going into shock. "I could have _died_."

"We all could've, numbskull," the employee added to Hunter, but sounding too floored to put any real malice into it.

The Loonatics all exchanged glances, all reaching the consensus that if they weren't nuts before, the recording people were now. They went from no memory to complete and utter shocked realization in seconds; Ace had only just started explaining what had happened _again_ when it suddenly seemed to click, and not just for the ones he was talking to.

Ace was the one to catch on first. "Deir eyes aren't yellow anymore," he observed, remembering Lexi's earlier comment and finding that the strange discoloration was no longer present. If he wasn't certain earlier, he was now; the eye color was an indicator of memory loss.

"How did that happen?" Lexi asked. Slam looked at each man individually before seeming to reach a conclusion, that being no conclusion at all as he shrugged and shook his head, making an "I don't know" sounding grunt.

The owner, however, was quick to reach his own conclusions. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Ace and approaching in what might have meant to have been a menacing fashion. Ace met the gaze, and didn't move an inch. "You said that you're people took it to keep it from being taken, but it didn't work! _You're _the reason my award was taken!"

"Now hang on a second," Lexi interjected. "We don't know that."

"Yeah; Sive never said anythin' about it," Ace agreed, activating his comm. "Cool your jets, doc. We'll get dis all cleared up no matter what happened." Noticing that Sive still appeared to be offline, he called Tech instead.

"Hey, Tech," Ace greeted, "can ya put Sive on for me?"

"_Sure thing."_

There was some rustling on the other end, no doubt Tech either struggling to put it on speaker or detach it from his wrist to hand it to Sive. Either way, the younger coyote's voice rang through the line a moment later. "_What's up, Ace?"_

"What happened to dat award dat ya pilfered? Did da thieves get it?"

"_Technically yes, technically no," _Sive replied, not even waiting for a questioning reply before continuing. "_Head up to the vault and I'll explain._"

The owner took off as though he were shot out of a rocket, the scruffy employee and other Loonatics following at a more leisurely pace. Hunter and his agent remained where they were, both still slightly in shock and muttering indistinct goodbyes to the departing Loonatics.

All made their way to the vault a few floors up, stopping before the very empty Centennial Award's pedestal. "Alright, Sive, start explainin'," Ace ordered through the comm.

"_Are you standing facing the Centennial's spot?" _she asked. Receiving a positive answer, she continued. "_Do a 180. You should see that the wall is lined with similar looking gold records-"_

"Those are all plastic!" the owner interrupted, sounding furious and angrily stomping his foot, resembling a five year old throwing a tantrum.

"_I am aware," _Sive deadpanned. "_Look for one directly across from you. The band name has something to do with a Blaze or something. Remove the record and flip it around; careful, though, it's really heavy."_

After a minute or two of looking, the employee found it; Brush Blaze, winning a gold record in 2689 for their album Fire Trail. He reached up to remove it from the wall, but practically dropped it on the way down, struggling to set it on the floor without letting it fall. For all the effort he put into it, he may as well have been moving a lead weight. The owner looked on anxiously as the employee turned the heavy record around, revealing the word CENTENNIAL embossed across the front.

The owner squealed, knocking the employee aside as he dove to actually hug the thing. The Loonatics concluded that this one was nuts for sure, Ace ignoring Sive's question as to what the squeal was as he thanked her and signed off. "Well, since no damage was done, I think we should take off and follow our lead," Ace said, more to the employee who was actually paying attention than to the owner who was still very involved with his award. "Da police will be by shortly ta take official statements and whatnot."

"We'll be here," the employee reassured, rolling his eyes at his boss' antics. "Thanks for the help."

"It's what we're here for," Lexi replied, following Ace and Slam out of the vault.

Duck was about to quack after his teammates, intent on being the first one out of the nuthouse, when a hand landing on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to find the scruffy employee, handing him a CD case with a completely serious look. "It's a mix of some of our top hits," he explained, handing it to Duck. "On the house. You need it."

Duck looked very miffed, and was about to give a snappy retort, when Ace called after him. With a parting glare, he quacked off after his teammates, critically inspecting the disk on his way out.

**A/N: That took a while to read, didn't it? XD The next chapter should be up sometime before January 7****th****, which is when I go back to school, so look forward to it! I'm…actually not sure where I'm going with this next (there's a fuzzy area in my outline,) but it'll get done! **

**Enjoy whatever holidays you celebrate, or just have a nice week!**

**I celebrate Christmas, though, and I'd love some reviews from readers as a present! XP**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: …Can it be? An on-time chapter?! *collective gasp* It's a miracle! **

**I typed this up in two days; easiest chapter I've done in a while. I haven't reviewed my outline in a while, so I thought it would take me to one place, when it in fact took me somewhere else entirely. So, enjoy some surprise TechxSive and a check-in with Rev! (I thought we wouldn't see him for another chapter or two; glad I'm wrong!) Admittedly, not much happens in this chapter, other than escalations with Rev and the folks. There will be some action and a problematic development next chapter, though!**

**Special thanks to Candlestic, Molly Grace 16, Halloween Witch (surprise! got your wish!), Luna246, Angelus Draco, and iwolf208 for reviewing! Your kind words are what keep me motivated to keep working!**

"So they were just miraculously fixed, just like that?" Tech asked skeptically as he furiously typed at the keyboard in front of him. The other Loonatics were surprised he didn't break the keys with how fast his fingers were flying across them.

After the rest of the team returned to the tower, they found the two coyotes already down in the lab, working on finding some sort of records on their thieves. It had quickly become apparent that "Jet" and "Slo-Mo" were just aliases (big surprise there), and since Torres and Rodriguez were such common last names, they had a lot of searching to do. However, knowing that they were anthros- anthro mice, specifically- would help narrow it down by a lot. Because of how populous mice could be, though, it still left a large pool of suspects to sift through.

"It was weird, yeah," Lexi agreed, watching picture after picture of potential suspects fly across the screen as Tech inspected a file and discarded it at amazing speed before repeating the process. "Duck was blasting this God-awful excuse for music-"

"Hey! That's quality stuff there!"

"-so we were all distracted for a second, but when we turned back, they were all suddenly freaking out about what had happened," Lexi finished, completely ignoring Duck's indignant response over what she felt was a well-deserved insult.

"Maybe de effects of da memory wipe wear off after a set amount of time?" Ace suggested with a shrug, unable to think of any other reason the recording men may have snapped out of it.

"Then why don't the victims of the earlier robberies remember anything yet?" Sive asked rhetorically, shaking her head. "Sorry, Ace, but it's never that simple."

"And here I thought we'd had enough problems ta deal with already," Ace lamented with a shake of his head. The sudden loss of a team member compounded with the uprising of a troublesome villain was proving to be more stressful than anything they'd faced in quite some time. "Anybody else got a theory?"

"Perhaps they were enlightened by hearing good music for the first time," Duck suggested haughtily, turning his bill up in a show of assumed superiority as he flopped down in an empty deck chair, sprawling across its arms and folding his hands behind his head.

Slam rapidly shook his head, making many negative-sounding grunts in disagreement.

"Maybe you damaged their ears so much they were shocked back to normalcy," Tech deadpanned, earning a withering look from Duck and twitters from everyone else. He narrowed the search by eliminating all who didn't have a police record relating to theft, either petty or grand theft. It still left him with almost a thousand results to filter through. Trying a different tactic, he eliminated all who were younger than 15 and older than 30; it still left more than two thirds of the previous search pool.

"This is going to take forever…" he grumbled, starting to go through the results. He could get through about ten results a minute; at a few hundred results, it would take a few hours to get through them all.

"Maybe we should just narrow the field a little more?" Lexi suggested, trying to be helpful seeing as Tech always insisted on handling anything at a computer himself. "What if you plugged in their physical characteristics, like fur and eye color?"

"Brown eyes and brown fur? That would only get rid of fifty possibles, maybe. It's not worth reloading the system for that," Tech explained, continuing his search slower than before as he contemplated anything else to plug in to the search engine.

"What about any who have been deported?" Ace asked, noticing many faces flash across the screen with a big, red "DEPORTED" flashing across the bottom of their picture. "If it happened recently enough, then I doubt it could be them."

"This is true," Tech agreed, reopening the search tools and plugging in the residency requirement, as well as Lexi's physical characteristics, seeing as he now had to reload it, anyway. A few minutes later, after the official database had sifted through all of the files again, they were left with about half of the original results. "Anything else?"

"…What about getting rid of anyone who wasn't hospitalized around the time of the meteor hit a few years ago?" Sive asked. "You guys said you all were hospitalized dealing with the effects of getting your powers; maybe they were, too."

Tech plugged it in, while Lexi turned to Sive curiously. "It was tough acclimating to getting the powers; we all had to let our bodies adjust to the sudden changes. Was it easier for you?"

"Well, since I was so much farther away, I didn't get the direct radiation effects you guys did, so it was a little more gradual. Plus, Navy District hospitals are scary places," she explained with a shudder. "It's better to chance it on your own over there."

The database reloaded again a few minutes later, and everyone gained some confidence upon seeing that less than a hundred results remained. It took Tech less than five minutes to come across a result that gave him pause.

"I think this is too much of a coincidence for it not to be one of them, but just to be sure, is this Jet, Sive?" Tech asked, sending the image from his computer on the big screen. A mug shot of a young mouse anthro with brown fur and an un-amused expression filled the screen, the name Chet Torres labeled across the top. There was no doubt about it; this was a younger Jet.

"Yeah, that's him," Sive confirmed, shaking his head. "Very original name he came up with."

"No kidding," Tech agreed, digging around a bit in Chet's history before looking for Slo-Mo. "So, he was born in central Mexico, his family immigrated here near 2760, and since then, it's a long history of petty theft, property damage, trespassing, and a few assault charges. He's wanted in two states, both warrants issued after the meteor. There would probably be more, but I'm guessing Slo-Mo has everything to do with that. And to top it off, there's no current address; last known was just outside of Acmetropolis."

"Brilliant," Ace remarked, "it really never can be easy, can it?"

"Maybe he's staying with family somewhere around here?" Duck halfheartedly suggested from his lounging position in a nearby desk chair, playing a game on his phone.

Tech searched for Chet's relatives, leading to a long list of results. "Big family," Tech stated, "but none of them seem to live anywhere except southern California. Except…"

One more name had no address listed. Clicking on it, Tech almost laughed. "Guys, meet Sloan Montgomery Rodriguez, Torres' cousin."

Ace snorted. "Dey need a better understandin' of 'secret identity.'"

"What's the point of being so secret about it, anyway?" Duck asked, putting his phone down and giving his full attention to the task at hand. "What major advantage does this give us?"

"I was hoping this would give us an address to search out; they have to be putting all this stuff they're taking _somewhere_," Tech reasoned.

"Well, knowing that there's two of them to deal with helps," Sive stated.

"Right," Ace agreed. "Jet is impulsive, and Slo-Mo's da brains of de operation. Separate 'em, and Jet's a manageable catch- so long as we can keep up with 'im- and Slo-Mo is a well-armed, but slow movin', sittin' duck."

"I hate that expression," Duck grumbled, crossing his arms and scowling.

"It's an age-old figure of speech, Duck," Lexi said in exasperation, hopping off of her seat on a desk and moving towards the door. "Well, now that we know what we're dealing with, we just need to figure out how to deal with it. It's getting late, so I say we order some takeout and call it a day."

"Pizza!" Slam exclaimed loudly, excited by the thought of food as he rushed past Lexi out of the lab. Duck quacked out, probably to the living room a few floors up, while Sive and Ace made as though to follow Lexi. All three of the remaining Loonatics stopped upon realizing that Tech wasn't making any moves to follow.

"You comin', Tech?" Ace asked.

"I want to do some more searching on some other databases, see if I can find anything else relevant and, hopefully, helpful," Tech explained, already starting up a few more computers in preparation for a marathon, high-density search session.

"Not again, Tech," Lexi chastised. "You'll miss dinner with how long you'll be down here."

"I'll just reheat something later," he said dismissively, waving them off and keeping his gaze firmly on his computer, expecting that to be the end of it. This wasn't the first marathon session he'd ever done, but they all had noticed a change; without Rev around, his 'marathons' became more like triathlons. He'd spend far more time in his labs working on chasing cyber leads on his own than he did with Rev, leading to a few multi-day disappearances.

Ace, Lexi, and Sive all exchanged withering looks, irked by the coyote's behavior. They all knew that once he set his mind to something like this, though, there was no changing it, and he wasn't worn out enough yet for anyone to be able to drag him out. The two bunnies started moving back out of the lab again, but paused once more as Sive headed in the opposite direction.

Tech looked up in surprise as he saw someone in his peripheral vision take one of the chairs at one of the other computers he'd just booted up, and only just stopped himself from gawking as Sive opened up some more Federal search programs. "Uh, Sive? What are you doing?"

"Helping you chase geese," she deadpanned, pulling a Tech and resolutely keeping her eyes on the screen in front of her. "If you're going to insist on staying down here and working, there's no sense in letting you do it all yourself. We're a team- we should share the workload."

Ace and Lexi exchanged a knowing look before quietly slipping out the doorway.

"Uh…thanks for the offer," Tech began hesitantly, speaking slowly as he thought over how to counter that, "but you don't have to do this; I can do it quickly enough on my own. Besides, I'm probably not going to find much, and it'll take a while-"

"Then the two of us can find probably not much in half a while- and I wasn't offering," she concluded with a sense of finality. Tech was going to argue, when he paused, thinking about just who he was dealing with. Sive was notoriously stubborn in some areas, and while she rarely started arguments, she usually finished them. Verbally sparring with her, trying to get her to do something other than what she had set her mind to, would have been a waste of oxygen.

Shaking his head and internally rolling his eyes as he turned back to his computer, Tech huffed. "You're just as bad as me, you know."

Sive smirked. "Yes, but I use my stubbornness to promote good, not reclusiveness."

"I don't promote it…"

"Just practice it. Extensively," Sive deadpanned. Tech snorted, not replying to that comment, knowing how true it was.

The banter continued as they searched, only pausing when one or the other found something that sounded important or interesting. Tech would write it down in a notebook to keep it all organized before the search, and the conversation, would continue. It went on like this for about three hours before things started to slow; relevant results began to decrease in frequency, and with the results went the drive to continue the search. Both coyotes slowed, now talking more than searching. They had exhausted many search engines, and as they had expected, hadn't found much of anything that was really helpful.

"So, how are we going to use any of this intel to help catch these two pipsqueak perps?" Sive asked, looking over their meager notes critically as she tried to decipher Tech's chicken scratch. She suddenly realized why he always preferred to type everything.

"Right now? I'm not sure," Tech replied, halfheartedly sorting through results. "Now that I know there's two of them, I have to reevaluate pretty much everything, make it a clean slate."

Sive hummed in understanding, giving up on reading the notes and handing the book back to Tech with a smirk. "Just need to figure out how to build a better mousetrap, huh?"

They both laughed at how bad the joke was, turning back to their respective monitors. However, Sive noticed as Tech's typing trailed off a moment later. Turning back to him, she saw that he seemed to be seriously considering something, idly chewing on the end of his pencil, staring holes through his monitor. She recognized his scheming look. She also knew it meant that they were done searching until his train of thought ran its course.

"Hey, Tech?" she called, trying to get his attention. It didn't work. "Earth to Tech!" Still no response. Putting both of her feet on one of the legs of the desk, she propelled herself sideways, her rolling chair gently bumping into Tech's. He jumped slightly, shaking his head to come out of his stupor.

"If you can think and chew on a pencil, you can think and chew on a slice of pizza." She gave him a wry look, smirking at his dumbfounded look as he shook himself out of his stupor and found her suddenly so close to him.

Tech could only try to process what he'd missed as Sive pulled herself back to her own desk and began shutting down her computer. He contemplated between continuing his search while scheming around his new idea, but concluded that microwaved pizza sounded better than searching for things he wouldn't find. Shutting down his computer, he followed Sive out of his lab, shutting off the lights as he went.

**xoxoxoxox**

If anyone were to look in on the events of the Runner house, they'd assume that something had gone horrifically wrong and that they were all rushing around with the intent of evacuating the house as fast as possible. Ma was dashing about the kitchen, working too fast with whatever food she could grab to be able to see what she was doing with it; Pa was finishing laundry work (as ordered by his wife), switching loads, folding, and delivering the towers of clean clothes to their correct rooms; Rip, unsurprisingly, was stationary, sitting on the couch and idly flipping channels on the TV. Rev, however, was far outpacing all of them, dashing back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room in his bid to set the table as fast as physically possible; any excuse for speed, after all.

"Whoa-there-son!" Pa exclaimed, catching his oldest about the shoulders as they crossed paths, forcing Rev to drastically slow so as not to drop his dad before he continued on his way back to the laundry room. "Slow-it-down-a-touch!"

"Sure-Pa-sorry-Pa," Rev replied, waiting until Ralph had disappeared back into another part of the house before continuing at his previous pace.

"Easy-there-Rev! Don't-hurt-yourself!" Ma admonished as she dropped off a finished dish on the table, watching Rev do a full circle around the table worriedly as he set down one round of silverware at each place at the table.

"Sure-Ma-sorry-Ma," Rev replied, waiting until his mother had disappeared into the kitchen before continuing.

Rip, from his position on the couch, huffed, rolling his eyes at his brother and the sad spectacle he'd become. It was like this all the time now; Rev would do anything he could around the house to be able to travel at any considerable speed. He'd even gone to the grocery store for Ma once, and didn't take the car to do it! Of course, it was kind of funny to see Rev walk in with both arms completely draped in shopping bags, but the old light in his eyes had been there, if only for a moment- before Ma and Pa had freaked out about the whole episode.

Harriet's voice rang out around the house. "Okay-everyone! Dinner's-ready!"

Pa let out an excited whoop as he dashed to the table, sliding into his seat and sending it up on two legs, almost tipping over before settling back fully on the ground again. Ma also dashed over with equal speed, though she stopped moving before politely sliding into her chair. Rev rocketed to the doorway before rapidly slowing, practically _walking_ into the room.

Rip languidly got up to follow, uncaringly tossing the remote onto the couch as he stopped on a news channel, before pausing, paying attention to what was being shown. "Hey, Rev?"

Rev, about to take his seat, froze at hearing his brother's voice. The uncertain, worried tone was what did it. "Yeah?"

"You should see this…"

Not even considering his parents, Rev darted out of the room at full speed, his parents not far behind. Rip was still standing in front of the couch, focusing on the TV in front of him. Rev saw where his brother's attention was, and looked there as well, giving the aging newscaster on the screen his full attention.

"…_as the thieves, now identified as Jet Torres and Slo-Mo Rodriguez, attacked the Sundown Records building today, intent on taking their recently acquired, Centennial Award; a valuable gold trophy. Their endeavor failed, all thanks to the Loonatics. _

"_Unfortunately, the resident superheroes' plans to catch the masked mischief makers failed as they learned the hard way that the culprit they'd been having trouble with for the past few weeks turned out to be two culprits, resulting in a failed trap and Sive, their youngest team member, suddenly disappearing-"_

The TV suddenly switched off, drawing an indignant "Hey!" from Rip and a panicked gasp from Rev as they both turned to the cause; Harriet, standing behind the couch next to Rev and holding the remote, giving a disapproving look to her sons. Ralph, not too far behind her, was just as disappointed.

"We-really-shouldn't-be-watching-TV-while-we-eat. It's-just-not-polite." Harriet tucked the remote in a pocket hidden in her apron, and both she and Ralph moved back towards the dining room, expecting their sons to follow.

Rev had other ideas.

Vaulting the couch before Rip could begin cursing out his parents (as he looked too keen to do,) Rev crouched and pushed the power button on the manual controls on the TV set, holding it down so that while the screen would turn on, Ma couldn't turn it off again with the remote. Someone would have to wrench his hand away to do it. Rev could hear both his parents loudly protest, but he didn't care at that point, listening intently as the newsman reappeared, finishing the story with-

"…_strange turn of events, the Loonatics found their missing teammate an hour later emerging from a subway station a couple of miles away, unharmed."_

Rev sighed in relief, flopping onto the floor and releasing the controls, allowing his irritated parents to finally do as they wished and turn off the TV.

"_Rev!_" his mother exclaimed, a disbelieving note accompanying her chastisement. "You-know-it's-a-rule-not-to-watch-TV-at-dinnertime!"

"Since _when?!_" Rip exclaimed, still shocked at just how far his parents had gone. "Besides, you saw that, one of his friends was in trouble! Why is it wrong that he wanted to make sure they were okay?!"

As usual, Rip was completely ignored. His words didn't even faze his parents; their attention was solely on Rev. "Son," Pa began, approaching his oldest and completely bypassing his enraged youngest son, "none-of-that-is-any-of-your-concern-anymore. Sure-you-used-to-be-friends-with-them; that-was-then-and-this-is-now. You-shouldn't-involve-yourself-with-any-of-this-any-longer. It's-over."

Rev was expressionlessly staring at his father. Rip, shockingly, was lost for words, eyes bugging out and beak wide open; under different circumstances, he would've looked quite comical.

"…Let's-all-just-go-back-to-dinner-now, huh?" Harriet chirped, seemingly unaffected by everything that had just transpired. Rip shifted his incredulity from Pa to her.

Rev, however, didn't seem to notice. Rip was the first to notice the change; the way his brother's hands balled into fists, the slight shaking that slowly overtook his entire body, the subtle change to an expression of pure rage. The two elder Runners didn't seem to notice anything until their son's eyes began to glow bright red.

"Rev-" Pa began, but before he could say anything else, Rev had shot up to his feet, rocketing out of the house to displace a few lighter objects, slightly singing the carpet. They heard the front door crash open, but no one made a move to stop him.

"What the hell is _wrong_ with you two?!" Rip shouted accusingly, rounding on his parents with a look that rivaled his brother's earlier expression. Unsurprisingly, they seemed unfazed by their younger son, staring off after their oldest with unreadable faces.

**A/N: Not too much has happened these past two chapters, but it'll pick up next time, I promise! …And on a side note, I don't think there's that much farther to go in this story. It seems early for this warning, I know, but I did say that this wasn't going to be a twenty-some-odd chapter epic like it usually is. I'm going to get started on my outline for my next story (even though I have two I'm debating between for doing next) very soon so as not to have another multi-month wait. Between the stories I'm debating between, one is very short (like, three-shot short), and the other is more epic-ey than usual, so I want to jump ahead.**

**The next chapter should be up in two weeks, but I am restarting school Monday, and you all know just as well as I how much my teachers like spontaneous projects.**

**Read and review, please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: …I hate school. Vehemently. *cough*Bio*cough***

**Sorry for the lateness, but I have been busy beyond belief, and this one really didn't want to go from my head to the page. And I had troubles figuring out where to cut it off, so it's shorter than I had planned. =( Sorry! I really pushed myself to get this out today, otherwise it would have been another week of waiting, so I didn't edit it as closely as I would've liked and I wasn't entirely too happy with it. If anyone notices any outstanding errors or anything that bothers then, tell me and I'll correct!**

**So, in this chapter, another plan to catch the thief is executed, and another problem develops, this time starring Ace! Enjoy!**

**I almost forgot this, and gave myself a preventative bricking. (This is what I get for submitting chapters at stupid o'clock.) Thanks to Halloween Witch, Angelus Draco, Molly Grace 16, Luna246, and iwolf208! Your kind words are the only thing my writing muse will accept as payment!**

The dim yellow light faded, and Slo-Mo could only watch with indifferent glee as his favorite ability took effect, noting the blank looks on the faces of the employees, customers, and the single, far-beyond-his-prime security guard that were all unfortunate enough to have been in the small store at that time of day. He knew exactly what was happening; their eyes yellowed as the effects sank in while they stood still like statues, and would for some time until the hypnosis allowed them return of the faculties it allowed them to access before returning to their normal activities, ignoring any anomalies they found along the way like reprogrammed robots. That's about all they amounted to at that point, anyway.

Jet casually walked out of the jewelry store they had just hit, Slo-Mo still held aloft on his shoulders because of how slow he moved without assistance. The younger, more impulsive mouse wasn't really paying attention to where they were going as he avidly sorted through their bag of recently-acquired loot. It wasn't like he needed to; the Loonatics hadn't shown up at all, and at that rate, the two mice would be long gone before they did.

Unfortunately for them, the Loonatics weren't running _that_ far behind.

Slo-Mo gave a sharp tug on his cousin's ear, causing Jet to yelp and suddenly take a few quick steps to the side while the taller of the two disinterestedly watched as the spot they were just occupying blew up in a sudden flash and crash of thunder.

"Damn, I missed," Sive cursed as she buzzed the mice once on her jetpack, Lexi taking her own shot from behind her with similar results.

"We don't have to hit them," Lexi reminded the coyote as she watched the mice suddenly pick up the pace, running in the exact opposite direction from the pursuing girls and down a side alley. "We just have to drive them to Slam and skedaddle."

"Yeah, but they didn't force you to get lost in a subway for an hour." Lexi rolled her eyes, catching the not-entirely-serious tone from her not-so vengeful friend, but nevertheless, no more shots were exchanged (from their end) as they pursued the two mice using their jetpacks, going over buildings to follow them through the tight twists and turns of the normally impassable back trails through downtown. Eventually, Jet took them under a bridge, with a few highways on top, giving the girls no way to follow them- exactly what they were counting on them to do.

"Slam," Lexi called through the comm., "you're on!"

Only seconds after receiving her message, the blur that was the two mice rocketed past the Tasmanian devil's hiding place. It took him a moment to register what had just happened, but once he switched into tornado-mode, he easily kept up with his quarry, following them all across the low tunnels of the under city. He couldn't exactly attack them, having no ranged abilities, but that wasn't his goal, either; he was just supposed to keep them moving. Select pathways and tunnels were (conveniently) blocked by barricades or (spontaneous) debris, and Slo-Mo was starting to debate shooting at their pursuer in an attempt to put more distance between them, giving the mice time to try squeezing through a small opening, when he found that they wouldn't need to. They were rapidly approaching a mercifully unblocked tunnel that was so small, he'd have to duck his head from his perch on his already shorter-than-average cousin's shoulders to fit. There was no way the oversized Loonatic behind them could follow.

Slo-Mo was the smarter one; he noticed the pattern.

"Make sure to stop halfway through the tunnel," he ordered his partner below him, ducking as they entered the passage.

Slam, meanwhile, slowed to a stop well before encountering the relatively-tiny pinhole that his marks had just disappeared into. He activated his comm., grunting a quick, hurried message to Ace by way of an alert that his turn was up.

**xoxoxoxox**

"Got it, Slam," the bunny replied, deactivating his comm. and waiting patiently for the mice to zip out of the tunnel. He was perched on a small overhang just over the opposite exit to the tunnel Slam had just driven the two Hispanic havoc-wreakers into, a perfect spot to be able to jump up, jetpack activated, and follow them.

He was supposed to drive them to Duck (after conveniently being unable to follow any longer once the path led to a space between two tall buildings with far too many power lines for Ace to follow in the air). Their trick was to keep the mice (namely Slo-Mo) from figuring out that the Loonatics were driving them to a specific location; the net trap had been cleverly placed last time, and with this type of trap, that wouldn't work, so they had to get creative. Once Ace got them to Duck, the mallard would then drive the perps into the trap Tech had set- a large, conspicuous device tripped by remote and given a speed boost from a magnetic pull from Tech to outdo Jet's speed. The trap was a large arm that would swing in a vertical arc once activated, much like a mousetrap snapping shut. However, unlike an actual mousetrap that was designed to snap the neck of its intended catch, this had a large, fishbowl-like container attached to the arm that would trap the mice and give them no gaps to slip through.

However, none of this could happen if they never exited that tunnel.

Ace reasoned that they could have been feeling their way along in the dark, looking for an alternate exit than the one right in front of them, but it really was taking a while. The yellow bunny was about to leave his hiding spot and sneak a peek inside, when the mice in question zipped out. Ace didn't even consider their sudden decrease in height; he just shot a couple of laser blasts in their general direction when they tried to turn down a side alley, intent on keeping them on the correct path as he reached for the controls on his jetpack. He was just about to give chase, when a small sound from behind him caught his attention.

Whirling around, he barely caught sight of Slo-Mo before being blinded by a yellow light.

"Lights out, amigo."

**xoxoxoxox**

Duck was not a patient person, as he made sure to loudly proclaim multiple times a week. He hadn't been thrilled to learn he'd be the one waiting for the longest to encounter the thieves; he specifically was needed, though, seeing as he was the only one who could keep up with the speedy mice on the ground and make a quick getaway if needed. So, stroking his ego with the knowledge that _he_ was necessary to the success of this plan, he consented to wait. And wait. And wait.

And then he got fed up.

"Where are they?!" he shouted to no one in particular, dragging his fingers through the feathers on his head in frustration. "Tech said I wouldn't be here for more than twenty minutes! It's been twenty-two!"

"_Keep making that kind of racket and they'll run off before they ever reach you_," Lexi deadpanned over the comm.

"Easy for you to say! You've already done your part!"

Lexi and Sive, hovering high over Acmetropolis, sighed simultaneously, lowering the volume output on their comm.s as Duck continued his tirade. When Tech's voice interrupted Duck, coming in on a separate channel and blocking out the mallard, both girls quickly cut off the irate voice on the other line.

"_Have they reached Duck, yet_?" the coyote asked curiously, wanting to make sure that he had enough advanced notice to spring the trap. He wouldn't put it past the egotistical mallard to forget to give him sufficient notice to their approach.

"As he just explosively informed us...no," Sive stated dryly.

"_Weird,"_ Tech commented, "_I made sure to give us excess time, but I figured we wouldn't need it with how fast Jet can run."_

"You don't think something's wrong, do you?" Lexi asked, the first signs of anxiety starting to show. This was supposed to be a simple, very low-risk plan; she could see few ways it could go wrong, and what few ways she could see were enough to worry her.

"_I doubt it," _Tech replied matter-of-factly, trying to relay calm through reason and logic. "_Ace had the hardest stretch to cover; odds are he couldn't keep them on the path and is now trying to redirect them himself."_

"If you say so," Lexi said unsurely, pivoting around on her spot a few dozen feet above the roof of a building and nervously peering in the direction of where Ace was supposed to be. He was supposed to be on his jetpack; they should have been able to see him.

"I'm sure he's fine, Lexi," Sive reassured, noting where the bunny's attention was.

"_Of course he is," _Tech scoffed. "_Ace can handle him- HEY!"_ Tech cut off the connection with a burst of static, a heavy silence, save for the hum of two jetpack engines, descending.

Until the loud _clang_ resounded from where the trap was located a few blocks away.

With one quick look at each other, confusion and alarm painted on both of their faces, the girls took off towards the trap, knowing that _something _had gone wrong over there. It came into view quickly enough, the large machine sequestered in the middle of a wide, but fairly unused street as it was. Tech's magnetic green glow was just fading out along the arm of the device and from his hand just up the street. Slam was just arriving, ending up closer to the machine than to Tech and hurriedly looking around for anything that had gone wrong. However, nothing seemed out of place.

Landing near Tech as Slam poked around the sprung trap, the coyote looked thoroughly annoyed, dropping his extended arm after the magnetic glow faded and rubbing his shoulder, cautiously rotating it a couple of times and wincing as it came around.

"I, am going to _kill _Duck," he growled, menacingly looking around for the misplaced mallard.

"What did he do?" Sive drawled, both girls following after Tech as he briskly strode towards Slam and the fishbowl-end of the trap, still rubbing his shoulder as he went.

"He didn't give me the heads up he was supposed to," he explained, "so I had to pull the arm magnetically to get it down it time; probably threw out my shoulder doing it."

Lexi winced in sympathy. "Ouch. Can you fix that with regeneration?"

"Not really, but it'll heal quicker than normal," Tech informed as they neared the trap. "Not sure if it was worth it, though; I couldn't see if I caught them or not."

Slam was still walking around the fishbowl, trying to see through the opaque Plexiglas material. All they could readily identify was a shadow inside, but they couldn't tell much else. "Why don't we find out?" Sive suggested, walking forward and phasing her head through before she could be advised otherwise. Much to the other's confusion (and concern,) she pulled back a few moments later, laughing hysterically. She waved her hand in the direction of the trap, trying to convey what she saw, but was laughing too hard to be able to do it with any success.

As an answer to their question and a confirmation that their friend had _not_ spontaneously lost her mind, Duck quacked in on top of the fishbowl, still in a sitting position and rubbing his sore beak, injured from when he'd run face-first into a spontaneously-appearing fishbowl. He'd been chasing the thieves down the street, when the next thing he knew, a wall suddenly appeared too quickly for him to quack away, resulting in a painful collision.

"You're despicable," he grumbled to the hysterical coyote below, who was now leaning heavily on the side of the trap to avoid toppling over as she tried to control her laughter.

Slam had a good laugh at Duck's expense as well, and while she hid it better, Lexi did smirk a bit. Tech, however, was still sore, literally and figuratively. "Serves you right!" he called up to the mallard.

"What did _I _do?!" Duck spat back. "_You're _the one who caught the wrong person!"

"Because _you_ forgot to call ahead and tell me they were coming!"

"It's not like I had any more notice than you did!" Duck retorted, though he was wise enough to know better than to leave his perch right then. "Ace didn't call ahead to warn me!" This caught Lexi's attention, but the others were otherwise occupied.

"You still could have sent a silent alert! It's as easy as pushing a button!"

"Of course, _you _would know!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Sive?" Lexi called nervously, diverting the younger coyote's attention away from the fight just as she was about to take a step to break it up. "Where _is _Ace?"

The panic in Lexi's voice immediately caught her attention, and Sive mentally sighed, knowing that worst-case-scenario thinking whenever something went wrong was always the bunny's knee-jerk reaction as she looked around. A deep frown appeared as she realized that the team leader really wasn't there.

"Guys?" Lexi called tentatively to the arguing duo and one-anthro audience, without any results. "Guys!"

"Cover your ears, Lex," Sive advised, taking a step forward. Once Lexi did as she was told, Sive used two fingers to create a loud, high-pitched whistle that immediately got everyone else's attention, previous expressions of anger or awe disappearing at Lexi's panic and Sive's seriousness.

"Guys," Sive began calmly, "where's Ace?"

The other three all looked around, noting the bunny's absence with slowly increasing worry as Lexi attempted to reach him through the comm. It rang and rang, but there was no answer. Tech was already on his device, trying to locate the wayward rabbit with the tracers in their comm.s. Fortunately, unlike last time, Ace was giving off a strong signal…

"Three blocks away?" Tech muttered astonishedly. "That can't be right…"

"Where is he?" Lexi asked anxiously, already fiddling with the controls on her jetpack, ready to go after him at a moment's notice.

"You know the park about three, three and a half blocks away from here?" Tech asked, still seemingly skeptical about the results as he and the others followed Lexi up into the air.

"He goes there all the time!" she replied from her front position. "It's the only place with an ice cream vendor that has carrot flavor!"

"But why is he there now…?" Tech asked himself, already worried about the answer and speculating for himself. One possibility stuck out, and reason dictated that it was the most likely option. The question was, did Ace manage to make as quick and effective of an escape as Sive did a week ago?

The odds of that seemed lower and lower as they got closer and closer to their destination. According to the tracer, Ace hadn't moved an inch since he'd first found him, nor had he made any attempt to contact them. It didn't bode well.

Lexi allowed Tech to take the lead; he could find Ace faster with his signal triangulation than Lexi could by sight or hearing. She was hot on his tail the whole way, until she spotted him ahead, sitting on a bench near a clear field in the park, idly munching on a very orange ice cream cone.

"Ace?!" she called out, concern plain in her voice and on her face as she landed and bounded towards her boyfriend, the others not far behind.

Ace looked up, not even noticing the worry coming from his team, and smiled. "What's up, docs? Why're you all suited up? What's da hurry?"

It was only when they were right in front of him that they noticed the unnatural- for Ace- yellow eyes.

**A/N: Glad I got that one done. The next one is going to be fun to write… There's a new development in dealing with the thieves, and a new development with the Runners! (I almost wrote Rev into this chapter, not in the family setting, and then I was like, 'Wait a minute…') Anyways, next chapter may not be on time; I have a LOT going on this week, giving me half the available free time to write. Apologizing in advance!**

…**I just had a lot of very sugary and delicious fudge, and it is very late where I am, so I'm going to sign off before I say something totally crazy. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hooray for sick days! (Sort of…) Never would have finished this in time without them, though. I thought that my teachers were trying to kill me before; now I'm convinced all of nature is working to kill me. (Note to self: flu shots are not a hundred percent effective…)**

**Anywho, I really like how this chapter turned out. It was a very pro-writing day. A little bit of elbow grease, and I got this gem out! So, the first half is more humor than anything else (I couldn't write it with a straight face,) but there's only a little bit of real plot. The second half is another serious brotherly Runner moment leading to an important but already well-guessed development! So, lots of fun stuff. This one was fun to write, hope you all enjoy it!**

**Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Halloween Witch, Candlestic, Angelus Draco, and the anonymous Guest for your kind words on the last chapter! You guys are the reason I keep doing this!**

**Note: This chapter contains one minor, vague-as-can-be, blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to adult acts. I checked FFn's rating guide; it does fall under the T-rating, but I thought I would put an extra warning up anyway. Now carry on.**

Upon arriving back at the tower, it quickly became clear to the other Loonatics that Ace had absolutely no memory of anything that had happened regarding the two thieving mice, even going so far as unwittingly poking the frayed nerves of his teammates by asking where Rev was. All but Tech were with the brainwashed bunny on in the living room, trying to fill him in on what he'd forgotten, and seeming to fail when he couldn't be bothered by it, not even batting an eyelash when they told him that Rev had quit. The aforementioned coyote was anxiously pacing around in the kitchen, trying to figure out a potential solution to this new development.

Ace was sitting comfortably in an armchair, watching TV and only half-heartedly listening to Lexi, who was sitting next to him on the arm of the chair as she tried to get him back up to speed with all that had happened. Since they weren't yet sure how to snap him out of the trance, still having no idea on how they'd done it the first time with the men at the recording studio a few days earlier, she figured that so long as he knew about everything that had happened, it would be like he was just fine; he wasn't hurt or anything, just an amnesiac.

"…we only figured out that there were two of them after they'd seemed to have caught Sive, but really didn't, and so- are you even listening to me?!" Lexi asked angrily, noting how Ace's eerily yellowed eyes were glued to the TV and he wasn't acknowledging her at all.

Ace snapped to, but only because he'd been in a relationship long enough to know that when she used that tone, it mean that he was in trouble. "Uh? Oh- of course I am, Lex! I heard every word of what you just said," he replied unconvincingly. Lexi groaned and facepalmed, too concerned to be angry with him. There were echoing sounds of exasperation from the others in the room.

"It's no good, Lexi," Sive stated, shaking her head. "He's like the recording men; they just didn't care about the issue at all until they snapped out of it."

Lexi sighed in reluctant agreement. "I know, but until we figure out how to fix him, I have to try _something."_

"Who needs fixin'?" Ace scoffed, dismissively waving a hand as he turned his attention back to the television. "I feel fine; da rest of you look fine ta me; Tech seems agitated, but alright; and Rev- hey, where is Rev, anyway?"

Lexi groaned and reintroduced her palm to her forehead, and the crowd on the couch once again echoed the sentiment.

"Hey," Duck began after a moment, a realization only just dawning on him. "If Ace has gone bonkers-"

"I'm fine, Duck."

"-then does this mean I get to be acting team leader?" the mallard finished excitedly. Lexi rolled her eyes and huffed, annoyed that _that_ was what Duck was thinking about at that time. Slam and Sive, on the other hand, were sitting right next to him; the perfect distance to simultaneously smack the egotistical mallard upside the head.

Duck flinched, hands flying up to immediately cover his head in case of any further blows. "What?! It was an honest question!"

"I don't think we'll need to come to replacing him, Duck," Tech interjected as he walked in, giving Ace a critical eye for a moment. Observing no change since he'd last seen the bunny, he turned back to the others. "Could I see you all in the kitchen? Not you, Ace; just stay here."

Ace, halfway out of his chair, shrugged and settled back in as the others followed Tech out of the room. The coyote made sure that Ace's attention really wasn't on them before fully entering the room; he did leave the door open, however, fearing that Ace would wander off again if left unsupervised for too long.

"Please tell me you figured something out," Lexi practically begged as Tech walked in. "Nothing I've tried is working, and I'm out of ideas."

"I _might_ have something," Tech replied, putting major emphasis on the 'might' that seemed to have been lost on Lexi judging by her sudden look of excitement. "I've been thinking about what happened with the recording guys; I don't think this is what we think it is."

"What else could it possibly be?" Duck asked as he settled on a countertop. "That fast mouse brainwashed Ace; what more is there to it?"

"Actually, it was the slow mouse," Sive deadpanned, earning a displeased look from Duck.

"Irrelevant," Tech interrupted sharply, now pacing in a small circle as he tried to peace out his train of thought himself. "It's the 'brainwashed' thing I'm not sure about. I don't think Slo-Mo wipes memories at all; I think it's more like suggestion."

"Huh?" Slam grunted.

"You mean like hypnosis?" Lexi confirmed.

Tech shrugged, continuing his pacing. "More or less, depending on if you're looking at the psychological version or the supernatural side. Either way, while I'm not very familiar with memory wiping, suggestion I know about. The one who, for lack of a better word, 'casts' the suggestion has a way of snapping the other out of it, but there are other ways to do it, namely a sudden shock to one's system, and I think that's what we did with the recording guys."

"So, all we need to do is play Duck's sorry excuse for music again-"

"Hey!"

"-and he'll be back to normal?" Sive concluded, giving Tech a skeptical look. It couldn't really be that simple…could it?

"Not necessarily," Tech stated. "There are a number of 'shocks' we could give him that could work. Loud noise would fall under the 'physical surprise' category, as would other things like scaring him, sudden pain-"

"No," Lexi interrupted, shaking her head, immediately dismissing that one. No one argued with her.

"-and so forth. However, none of that would work on Ace."

Duck raised an eyebrow. "Why's that? Couldn't we just poke him with a knitting needle or something?"

"No!" Lexi interjected again, glaring at the mallard.

"Aside from the fact that no one really likes going around and hurting their friends," Tech began, giving Duck an unhappy look as he explained, "there are two reasons that wouldn't work. One: If we went the pain route- _which we won't,_" he added, stopping Lexi from interrupting again, "we'd have to break his arm or something; in case you haven't noticed, Ace has a pretty high tolerance for pain. Two: It would need to some as a bit of a surprise, meaning he wouldn't be able to see it coming. If you think someone can pull that off, you obviously haven't tried to sneak up on Ace before."

Sive raised an eyebrow. "And you have?"

"Long story," Tech quickly dismissed with a shake of his head. "Anyway, since that option's out, that leaves 'psychological surprises,' meaning things that don't directly affect him but would come across as shocking enough to have the same effect, such as doing or saying something believable enough that he wouldn't immediately dismiss it as a joke but shocking enough that it'll have the desired effect. Which is also why we're in here; he still can't see it coming."

"So, we've just got to come up with something stupid yet believable enough to do or say that it'll snap him out of it?" Duck deadpanned.

"Shocking, not stupid, but yes, that's the gist of it," Tech replied.

The kitchen was silent for a moment as they all thought of things to do or say that could potentially have the desired effect. It took a surprisingly long amount of time; even though it would all be a lie, it was still difficult to think of something to purposely try to shock someone like Ace. Once they had one idea, though, they started coming quicker and quicker. It actually turned out to be pretty fun. Ace had no idea what was going on; some he immediately dismissed as jokes, some he took as mildly shocking yet not as much as it needed to be, and others he wondered if his friends had lost their minds, and though he didn't snap out of it, his reactions were priceless. It was the first fun, relatively team-building thing they'd done since Rev had left; it felt great.

However, after almost two hours and increasing threats to contact the local loony bin, they still had nothing to show for it. They'd done just about everything they could think of; Lexi had told him that they were all out of ice-cream; Tech had warned him that something had gone horrifically wrong in the lab and they only had about thirty seconds until the entire city went up in smoke; Sive had told him that Lexi had told her that she was thinking about breaking up; Slam, not being one for many words, had done a traditional Tasmanian dance, which got laughs from everyone, Ace included; Duck, however, came closest to shocking Ace out of it by suddenly professing his well-hidden, passionate love for the bunny. It was just a little too unbelievable, though, and he'd come back to the kitchen only to be met by hushed, yet boisterous laughter and a shrewd suggestion from Sive that kissing him may have done the trick. (If looks could've killed, Duck would've murdered her a few times over.)

During a lull, when they were trying to come up with more ideas, Lexi was pacing around while the others rested, all having just done 'doing' shockers that hadn't quite done the job. They were all conversing quietly while she walked, but when he suddenly pulled to a halt, all eyes turned to her. The developing smirk that would've made the Grinch jealous clued them in that she had come up with something really good as she walked out of the room. Not wanting to miss a moment of what was to come, the other four took up their established positions on either side of the doorframe, Sive and Tech on one side and Duck and Slam on the other, and intently listened to what was going on.

Lexi, calmly walking up behind Ace, stopped a moment to get her face back under control as she tried to adopt a nervous expression. Once she had succeeded, she slowly walked up to Ace, carrying herself with as much apprehension as she could muster. If this didn't work, she was going to have a _lot_ of explaining to do.

"Uh, Ace?" she squeaked, getting his attention. The yellow bunny was about to roll his eyes in preparation for something else ridiculous coming his way, but stopped when he saw just how panicked Lexi looked. "C-can I talk to you about something?"

He nodded, muting the TV as Lexi took a seat on the arm of the couch next to him. "What's wrong, Lex?"

She inwardly smirked; while he still couldn't be bothered about anything relating to the thieves (or Rev), he still responded to some things. Outwardly, though, she was able to increase her worry. She remained silent for a moment, building the tension for what was to come. "…Okay," she began quietly after a moment, gradually giving her voice more gusto as though she was building her determination. "I have something really important to tell you, but I'm not sure how, so I'm just going to be blunt, okay?"

Ace nodded in agreement, now also looking worried. She went silent for a short while again, letting the anticipation rise once more before taking a deep breath, looking Ace in the eyes, and saying as calmly as possible, "Ace, I'm pregnant."

You could hear a pin drop in both the living room and the kitchen at that point. Ace looked like a fish, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to say something, thought better of it, then restarted; Lexi was desperately trying not to laugh. The crowd in the kitchen were still getting over the shock, mouths and eyes wide open, but eventually joined Lexi in desperately trying not to laugh out loud.

Their valiant efforts ceased, however, when they heard a loud, ringing, "WHAT?!" from the living room followed by exuberant laughter from Lexi, clueing them in that it had either worked, or that their cover was blown, anyway. While Ace, eyes now back to their original hue, was still trying to process what he'd just heard, more laughter joined in with his now-laughing girlfriend. Lexi was obviously trying to get control of herself again to explain everything to him, judging by her vague hand gestures, but wasn't really getting everywhere. The group from the kitchen slowly filtered in; Duck quacked onto the couch, holding his stomach and kicking his legs; Slam stumbled in, doubled over in his laughter; Tech, though more composed than the others, was pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop tears; Sive just fell through the wall, landing on the floor and also holding her stomach while tears escaped her eyes.

Ace had no idea what to make of any of it.

"Am I…missin' somethin'?" he asked after a moment, though his team was no more composed than before.

"Yes!" Duck replied in a quick gasp.

Tech was, naturally, the first to compose himself and explain themselves. "Well, chief, you got hit by Slo-Mo's suggestion, remember?"

Ace thought for a moment, some things still seeming vague before clearing up. "Oh, yeah, dat. I take it dat da plan didn't work, den. But…what does any of dis have ta do with it? And does dis somehow explain da past couple of hours?"

"Yes, it does," Sive replied, picking herself up off the floor and, though still giggling a bit, joining the others. "Tech concluded that the only way to snap you out of it was to give you a shock."

"Sneaking up on you was out," Duck added, laughter finally subsiding.

"N' pain," Slam wheezed.

"So we had to get creative," Lexi concluded, straightening up. "None of that was actually true, Ace."

The bunny let out a relieved sigh, holding his hand to his chest dramatically. "Thank God!" he exclaimed, wisely choosing to avoid the topic of having children before continuing. "For a minute dere, I thought Duck was in love with me!"

This sparked an all new round of laughter (this time, Duck not included,) which didn't subside for a while, once it did, though, they were left with one issue still standing.

"So, what do we do about the thieves now?" Lexi asked. "We've tried everything, haven't we?"

"Not really," Tech replied, shaking his head. "What we've been doing is setting one trap; maybe we should start thinking about two."

All but Ace seemed lost; like the leader they were used to, he was right on top of things. "You mean start thinkin' about them like two separates instead of one, right?"

Tech nodded. "We need to separate them. Jet's impulsive, and Slo-Mo is slow; they balance each other out. Separate them…"

"Easy targets," Sive concluded.

**xoxoxoxox**

His parents had thought long and hard about actually buying their home when they'd first found it. They were planning on having kids, after all, and most parents would agree that having a cliff in the backyard didn't make for a safe, child-friendly environment. They were _flightless_ birds, after all. Despite what common sense dictated, though, they'd bought the house, and hadn't really had an issue with the sudden drop off until Rev had brought Tech over the first time- not that the Runner parents found any issue with it then. Their children had been absolutely terrified of the long drop when they were growing up, proving that it had been a good choice in home despite the potential danger in the yard.

Now, however, Rev couldn't find himself bothered by the potential of the few-hundred-some-odd foot drop just below him as he sat on the edge of the cliff, legs dangling as he stared at the full moon high above and the cascading shadows from the rock formations far below. After all, he wasn't so flightless anymore.

"I was wondering when you would come back." Rev didn't even flinch as his brother's voice rang out from just behind him; he had heard the back door open and close as quietly as the younger Runner could manage.

"Shouldn't-you-be-asleep-it's-like-2-AM," Rev asked, still not taking his eyes away from what most would have considered a breathtaking nature scene. He couldn't find it in himself to be moved.

"Actually, it's closer to 4, and I could be asking you the same thing," Rip deadpanned, joining his brother on the edge of the precipice.

"Hey-what-are-you-doing-you-could-fall!" Rev exclaimed, full attention now on his younger brother.

"As could you," he deadpanned, smirking at his now mildly agitated older sibling.

"You-can't-fly," Rev shot back.

"You'd catch me if I fell." Rev couldn't honestly deny that, and he saw no merit in lying like that just to win a petty argument, so he didn't say anything and turned his attention back on the sky.

"…Nice night," Rip said after a moment, trying to keep the conversation going.

"I-didn't-notice," Rev replied honestly.

Silence settled over them, but they both knew it was only a matter of time until it was broken. Many things needed to be said between them; Rev knew Rip wouldn't leave it unsaid, and Rip knew Rev needed someone to drill it into his head if he wouldn't accept it himself.

A gust of wind blew over the house, slightly ruffling their feathers and reminding Rip that he didn't run as warm as his sometimes literally-flaming brother; another reason to stop putting this off. He was more used to being spoken to by the voice of reason, not playing the part himself; he had no idea what he was doing. However, he did know that his brother needed him, and he wasn't just going to leave him behind on his own. Rev had come after him; he'd do the same.

"Rev," he began, sounding uncertain of himself, "you're not happy here. I'm not the most perceptive person, but if I can see it, it's obvious. I don't know why Ma and Pa can't; they've changed over the past couple of months. About a week before they went to Acmetropolis to get you, they suddenly changed; I didn't exist again, and you were the focus. I don't know why it happened, but all I know is that between us, you definitely got the short- well, short_er_ end of the stick, and I'm done watching it go on. You need to go your own way, Rev, before they suffocate you."

"But-Rip-they're-our-_parents_," Rev reiterated unsurely, the same weak arguments as before. "I-can't-just-pretend-they-don't-exist-ignore-what-they-want-"

"_Yes you can," _Rip interrupted. "People do it all the time. That argument's not going to work Rev; you think that they're just trying to do what's best for you, and for whatever reason, they can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that what they want for you is _killing_ you inside!" Rip shook his head. "Rev, you shouldn't-can't, do this anymore."

"Rip…"

"Rev, you know I'm planning on taking my own advice?" Rip asked, effectively silencing his brother. "I've only stuck around this long to make sure I knock some sense into you and get you to go back to your friends in Acmetropolis. As soon as you're free, I'm shipping out."

"W-where?" Rev stuttered incredulously, shocked that his brother was already planning this far.

"Hell if I know," Rip replied with a shrug. "Maybe to Detroit; I have a whole bunch of college buddies who live out there. I could room with one of them for a while, get a job as a project manager for one of the car companies real quick. I'm not sure yet. All I know is, the second I'm sure that you're out, I'll be hot on your heels."

Rev didn't speak for a long while. This put an entirely new spin on things; by staying, he wasn't only hurting himself and the team he'd left behind, he was hurting Rip, too. By leaving, though, he'd hurt his parents. It was a two-sided sword.

"…One-thing-that-really-bothers-me," Rev said after a bit, startling his brother out of the extended silence, "is-that-as-a-kid-you're-always-taught-that-family-comes-before-friends-and-everything-else-so-how-could-I-ignore-my-family-just-to-go-back-to-my-friends?"

"Don't I count as family?" Rip deadpanned sarcastically before moving on to the real issue. "Rev, family doesn't always have to come first, especially when your family is the one causing the problem. They may say that they care, but it's the ones who really, honestly care about you that you should pay attention to."

Rev chuckled with no real humor. "Funny," he said quietly, mostly to himself, "Tech-said-almost-the-exact-same-thing-to-me…"

Rev thought it over a little more. Rip didn't move from his spot as silence descended upon them once more, wanting to give his brother a chance to say anything else he wanted to before seeking warmth inside the house.

"…I-think-I-just-need-to-think-over-that-statement-a-bit-more-before-I-decide-anything," Rev concluded. Despite the fact that there was no resolution, Rip was pleased; this showed promise.

Mentally patting himself on the back, the younger Runner stood up. "I'll leave you to it, then; it's freezing out here."

He turned and started walking back to the house, but was stopped when Rev called him back.

"Rip-I-know-that-this-isn't-really-relevant-to-this-conversation-but-I-noticed-this-earlier-and-it's-been-bugging-me-for-a-while-and-I-think-you're-the-only-one-who-can-clear-it-up-for-me."

Rev wasn't facing him, so Rip could get away with rolling his eyes at the return of his brother's long-winded rambles. He wouldn't complain at the return of something normal, though. "Sure, what's up?"

Rev turned to face him. "Has-Pa-been-drinking-by-any-chance?"

The younger Runner looked perplexed. _Well, _he thought, _that came out of left field. _"Not more than he usually does, meaning once in a blue moon. That would explain his behavior somewhat, though, wouldn't it?"

Rev smiled a little. "Yeah-I-guess-it-would-but-then-what's-Ma's-excuse?"

"They're in it together!" Rip mock-declared, being overly dramatic and degenerating into laughter afterwards. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh-no-reason-really-it's-just-something-I-noticed-while-we-were-arguing-earlier," Rev replied dismissively, turning back to the scenery. "His-eyes-just-seemed-a-little-yellow."

**A/N: I don't know what my schedule will be like in the future, but it will definitely be almost if not exactly two weeks from now at the latest. (President's Day weekend road trip, and I now have a phone with 3G! Don't know if I get a connection in the middle of nowhere, though…) Anyway, there's only 3 chapters max. left! …Shockingly short, for me. The next chapter will either be mostly action with a Runner family interlude, or the Runners will be in the one after the next chapter and the upcoming one will be all action. Lots of fun to be had either way!**

**Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry for the fairly mild lateness, but I died a few times over this week from sickness (thanks to the sh*tty Chicago bus service to my school for making me wait half an hour outside in the middle of the worst blizzard of the year) and from an overload of work that transitioned from the past couple of weeks (one assignment being this big research paper for a scholarship.) So, yeah… I'm still kinda dead, so I didn't edit this one as much as I normally would have, but it would've been another week wait (at least) if I didn't post this today, so just PM me if you see anything I need to fix and I'll get around to it…eventually.**

**Well, this one ended up a lot longer than I thought I would, but I got to the big part with the Runners, so that's good. Lots of progress. I did end up continuing one part to the point where what I wrote needs to be in the next chapter, though, but since this is only a few days late (I think…0.0 what's the date again? (I'mjustthatdead)) it didn't put me off that much and I have a head start on the next chapter. So, this one is the first set of two action-heavy chapters that presents problems that will be solved in the next chapter. I can't think of anything else to say (dead *shot*) so I'm going to shut up now and let you all read.**

**Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Candlestic, Angelus Draco (glad I could cheer you up!), Halloween Witch, iwolf208, and Luna246 for your kind reviews, that inspired me to come back to life long enough to write this up! **

**Warning: There's a good deal of language in this chapter. The Runners *cough*Rip*cough* go a little postal…**

His cousin must have been rubbing off on him, Slo-Mo mused as Jet darted about, dodging numerous attacks from seemingly all directions. The not-so-armored convoy had been too easy of a target to pursue; the city would never have transported that amount of money without some kind of substantial guard. Of course, neither mouse had even considered this as they followed the car- until they rounded the corner and found not their targeted truck, but the Loonatics standing ready. Hence the current face-off in the empty public area, closed off because of the construction going on judging by the half-built lampposts and fountain.

Not that meeting on their terms seemed to help the local superheroes; most of them couldn't keep up with Jet on foot or without the aid of their jetpacks, and those that could were quickly deterred by Slo-Mo's laser pistol. He'd already shot one bunny out of the sky, giving the others a good excuse to stay grounded, and the teleporting Duck and tornado-powered Tasmanian devil had experienced enough near-misses to give them a wide berth. However, he had only seen five of the Loonatics so far. In all of the mayhem, it was entirely possible that he'd missed one, but it wasn't sitting right with the slow mouse.

As though given a cue, two hands rose out of the ground like something out of a zombie movie, too close for Jet to dodge. They grabbed onto his cousin's ankles, bringing him to an abrupt stop before roughly flinging him back the way he'd come. Slo-Mo, on the other hand, didn't stop with his relative, instead flying off his shoulders and sailing through the air due to his inertia.

"Once again," he murmured to himself, "I forgot she could do that."

Slo-Mo roughly landed on his rump, skidding forward a good distance before slowing to a stop. Ignoring the sting as he torpidly got to his feet, the slightly taller of the two mice turned to look for his cousin, only to find a wall of Loonatics separating him from Jet.

The Bunnies, Tech, and Slam- after reaching down and pulling Sive through the top of the storm sewer she'd been hiding in- faced Slo-Mo. Duck and Sive had turned to Jet. This obvious unbalance had been intentional; the only issue with Jet was his speed making it difficult to land a hit. Slo-Mo's suggestion, along with his weapon, would both have to be avoided, making him the harder target despite the fact that his relative lack of motion theoretically should have been easy to land a hit on him. However, the priority in that battle was to keep the two mice apart; seeing as Slo-Mo was more or less stationary, that made Jet the problem. His impulsiveness made their job easy; Duck and Sive, as two of the more annoying members of their team, would most likely be able to keep the speedy mouse's attention on them instead of his cousin.

Silence descended as both parties processed what had happened, one relishing that one of their endeavors had finally succeeded and the other figuring out how to repair the botched situation. Jet, not being one for much thought, acted first, utilizing his speed to dart to the side in a bid to get around the Loonatic wall. Ace mirrored the mouse's move, but had to backpedal when Slo-Mo began to fire at him and the others, looking about as interested in the situation as a toddler watching the State of the Union.

The rest of the Loonatics scattered to avoid the lasers, now really starting the fight. Now that Slo-Mo wasn't moving at Jet's pace (or at all, for that matter,) Tech could lock onto him, trying to use his magnetism to yank his gun away. However, judging by the lack of green around Slo-Mo (save for his sash,) his weapon was not made of anything magnetic.

"Can't disarm him: Watch it!" Tech warned his teammates as they swarmed their target.

Elsewhere, Sive and Duck were doing their own parts. Duck had quacked out of the way of Slo-Mo's wild firing, only to reappear directly into his own target's path. Throwing an egg right at him, Jet had no choice but to dodge, then once more as Sive fired a short blast of electricity from the side. He wound up traveling further away from his cousin instead of towards him.

"Oi-animales-locos (1)! I'm-trying-to-run-here!" he shouted angrily, once again trying to circumvent his company.

Once again, Duck threw an egg at him, this time an explosive one, sending the light mouse flying back. "Yeah, well, we're trying to stop you, so everyone can't be happy."

Jet smirked. "Yes-but-you-are-forgetting-that-I-am-smarter-than-you-are-tonto (2)." He took off running again, but this time, when Duck threw an egg, the fast mouse sped up to full speed, ducking under the projectile and aiming to drop kick the offending mallard. With an undignified squawk of surprise, Duck quacked away, leaving the path clear for the rocketing Jet.

Well, almost clear, as Sive proved moments later when she once more roughly threw the mouse off his desired course with another flash of lightning.

"Chingada (3)!" Jet shouted as he skidded away, trying and failing to land on his feet.

"Hey genio (4), you forgot you're outnumbered," Sive deadpanned from her position that had been out of Jet's line of sight.

"Mierda (5)!" he exclaimed, looking between the two Loonatics.

"Watch your mouth," Sive said admonishingly. "Just because it's in another language doesn't mean nobody knows what it means."

Jet halfheartedly rolled his eyes, focusing more on finding a way to his cousin. He was fast enough that he could technically leave and get away at any time; however, if he left his cousin behind, his aunt would never let him hear the end of it- that woman could nag. "Si-because-all-you-gringos-are-fluent-in-Spanish."

"Callate!," Sive snapped. "No sabes todo! (6)"

Jet, needless to say, was thoroughly surprised by Sive's sudden Spanish outburst, leading to him being too distracted to react to Duck's sudden offensive move, finding himself blinded by tar moments later.

The group focusing on Slo-Mo wasn't having nearly as much success as the Jet tag-team. Despite the fact that they had a stationary target, and had even landed a couple of direct hits, nothing seemed to phase the apathetic mouse. Most attempts were either deflected with his pistol or dodged with one wide, slow sidestep. The few hits that made their mark failed to make much of a mark at all; Slo-Mo was shockingly sturdy.

On top of all that, they were stuck dancing around each other; four-on-one had its disadvantages. Dodging often led to collisions, and they had to coordinate all of their offensive moves around each other. However, with Slo-Mo's own offensive shots, they weren't going to sacrifice the extra manpower.

Slo-Mo, however, was getting impatient. He didn't like being boxed in, and he wanted to get out of there. Taking note of his cousin's lack of success, though, he realized that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Jet was letting the Loonatics get to him, becoming increasingly reckless as a result. If he didn't step in soon, they'd succeed in capturing Jet, leaving Slo-Mo with no escape route.

"Como de costumbre (7), I have to do things myself," he lamented.

He eyed the Loonatics around him, studying their movements, waiting until the right moment. Then, all at once, he twisted, firing a green blast at the tornado-packing Slam, who had spun around in an attempt to rush the thief. His almost-forgotten power immediately took effect, causing the Tasmanian devil to slow down to the point where he was clearly visible as he spun, moving at a rate of only a few inches per minute. Raising his gun, Slo-Mo took aim at the vulnerable Loonatic.

The rest of the team would have none of that. Having no time to communicate, both Lexi and Ace darted in front of Slam, firing a brain blast and laser beam, respectively, to combat the oncoming projectile. Ace had fired slightly earlier than Lexi, causing his shot to explode upon impacting Slo-Mo's. Lexi's, however, cleared through the smoke, careening towards the static mouse.

The green glow around Slam dissipated, rematerializing around Lexi's brain blast, allowing Slo-Mo to calmly take a step to the side to avoid it as it landed, leaving his previous position slowly smoldering. However, now that Slam was free, he almost instantaneously returned to his previous tornado speed with Ace and Lexi still in his path. He tried to stop, but they were only a few feet in front of him; all three fell like bowling pins.

Knowing that hit wouldn't keep them occupied for long, Slo-Mo turned to see if he could offer any aid to his cousin, only to be met with Tech blocking his path.

"Not likely," the coyote stated, knowing what his adversary was thinking. Extending one arm, Tech locked on to a nearby trash can with his magnetism, wrenching it from the ground and launching it at the mouse with enough force to definitely end that part of the fight.

Slo-Mo assessed the situation, knowing that he would be of no assistance to his cousin like this; he couldn't get past the regenerative coyote easily, and he could see the rest of them sluggishly getting to their feet out of the corner of his eye. However, he speculated, _he_ didn't necessarily have to be the one to help his cousin.

In what might have been his fastest motion ever, Slo-Mo turned up the power on his pistol before firing it at the incoming projectile. It had been just enough to make it explode into small enough parts that the sturdy villain was unaffected. With all the smoke, though, Tech couldn't tell if his attack had made its mark, so he was still standing at the ready as the large smoke cloud enveloped him, making it difficult to see. Then, there was a flash of yellow, but by the time he realized what was going on, he'd blacked out.

"Mi primo estupido (8) looks like he needs a hand, no?"

**xoxoxoxox**

Sive, having a free moment as Duck pummeled the general area Jet was zipping about in with numerous eggs, just barely turned as she heard Ace's cry of, "Incoming!" She'd been expecting it to be towards one of the others fighting Slo-Mo; she'd noticed them struggling earlier, and was a little worried for them, but was too occupied to do anything herself. However, that slight turn allowed her to see the long piece of iron rebar heading right for them.

"Duck!" she shouted, instinctively hitting the deck so as to allow the bar to pass over her.

"What?!" an irate Duck replied, turning and just barely processing Sive's crouching figure before being swept off his feet and sent tumbling.

"I tried to warn him," Sive lamented before getting back to her feet, looking to see where the mysterious flying object had come from; not many could throw something like that. The rest of the team seemed to be still occupied with Slo-Mo, so it couldn't have been a horrifically bad toss from Slam; Tech, however, was taking purposeful strides towards her. She didn't have a chance to see what he was doing, though; Jet noticed his tormentors' predicament, and immediately took advantage of it. Zipping off in a wide arc behind Sive in an attempt not to be seen, the coyote would've missed him if he wasn't still cursing profusely in Spanish. Turning back to the mouse, Sive sent a long arc of electricity towards another metal trash can in his path, knowing it would attract more to the metal than to the mouse. It exploded in a shower of sparks right as Jet reached it, sending him well off his path once again.

A loud scraping of metal-on-metal alerted Sive to another issue. She instinctively phased to avoid any more oncoming atrocities, and was glad of it when she turned to find what looked to be the cover of a storm drain passing through her like a tossed Frisbee with enough force to most likely have cut her in half. The green glow around the object, though, was unmistakable.

"Oi, Tech! Friendly fire, much?!" she shouted to the still approaching coyote, who didn't react to her irate outburst. The reason why became apparent as he got closer, the yellow tint in his eyes clear as day.

"Oh, shit," she cursed as he got closer, locking onto something else- another stray piece of rebar that had broken off from something he'd thrown earlier- with his magnetism, angling it threateningly.

Duck chose that moment to make a reappearance next to Sive, finally recovering from the hit enough to remember that while it seemed he couldn't squirm out from under the heavy piece of metal, quacking out from under it was a viable option. "Who put the Cranky-O's in his cereal?" the mallard groused, making a show of removing an imaginary chink in his back.

"Slo-Mo," Sive replied by way of explanation, gaze quickly shifting between the approaching coyote in front and the recovering mouse in back. "Duck, you keep Jet occupied; I'll keep Tech from bugging the rest of us, try to snap him out of it."

Duck, feeling as though he'd gotten the better end of that deal, didn't argue as he quacked off after Jet. Tech's assigned 'job' was to keep anyone away from the speedy mouse; he turned to follow the mallard.

"Oh, no you don't," Sive said, seeing where Tech's attention was. She charged a very small enough amount of electricity into a ball, less than a shock from a Taser would give, and threw it at the coyote. The resulting thunder would have gotten anyone's attention, and the hypnotized coyote was no exception. Using his magnetism, he quickly brought up a sewer cover to block the trivial blow; the electricity attracted to the metal, hitting it with a small explosion before settling when Tech unceremoniously dropped his makeshift shield. Despite not being in control of his own mind, he still analyzed the situation as though he were fully in control of his faculties; he recognized that in order to do his job, this threat would have to be eliminated first.

**xoxoxoxox**

Most people would agree that the weekends were the best time of the week, seeing as it's usually a day off of work or school, and any work that needed to be done would be pushed until the next day by some unspoken, universal rule. Rev, as of late, was not one of these people, finding himself bored to death more often than not. Having nothing better to do, he'd already completed all of his work for the week and the two weeks yet to come. After one too many errands run without the use of the car, his parents had essentially put him in house arrest; however, he'd usually storm off somewhere once or twice a week now, so it wasn't that effective. He was just about at the end of his rope.

At the time he was lazing about on the couch with Rip, disinterestedly watching as his brother channel surfed. He wasn't sure where his parents were; Ma was probably in the kitchen, getting ready for dinner, and Pa was more than likely finishing on some last-minute paperwork in his office. Not that Rev could find it in himself to care much; he'd been feeling so lethargic lately, so apathetic, it was starting to worry him. He had been thinking over his last conversation with Rip almost nonstop, and was beginning to find more and more sense in his brother's words. He figured all he needed was one more, good push before he'd be out of there; whether it would come from Rip or from some other new, ridiculous rule from his parents, he wasn't sure. He'd tried calling Tech for some advice earlier, despite the coyote's words that he was biased; a biased point of view that he knew would be able to talk him into leaving was something he felt he really needed. When Tech didn't answer, the rest of the team's answering machines had followed in his search for guidance. They were probably out dealing with those thieves, the roadrunner had reasoned. They had been for a while, actually. Rev was starting to worry for them; no one had been this troublesome for a while. On top of that, he'd witnessed some pretty brutal defeats on the news.

The saying 'Speak of the devil and he shall appear' rang in Rev's mind as Rip stopped changing channels when a special news bulletin came up, telling rush hour travelers to avoid a couple roads in Acmetropolis due to a possible threat in the area that the Loonatics were dealing with. The news anchor disappeared, replaced with a view (from a considerable distance) of his team- _ex_-team, a well-hidden bitter part reminded himself- fighting with the two thieving mice. It didn't take long to conclude that they were losing badly. Despite the fact that he wasn't moving, the majority of the team was having difficulty hitting and dodging Slo-Mo; Duck was struggling to keep track of Jet; and...was Tech _attacking_ Sive?!

"What-is-going-on-over-there-they're-getting-creamed!" Rev exclaimed at the screen, as though his team had just lost the point at a sporting event.

"That doesn't look good," Rip concluded, wincing sympathetically as a well-aimed shot almost took off Ace's ears.

For a moment, Rev simply couldn't take his eyes off the screen, hypnotized by the rapidly unfolding horror. His attention was finally diverted when his brother noisily cleared his throat, turning to Rip only to be met with an expectant, challenging look_. Here's a problem you can fix; what are you going to do about it? _he asked without saying anything.

Naturally, Pa decided to walk out of his office right then, and, catching eye of what was happening on the screen, walked over, reaching to take the remote from Rip. "Boys-why-are-you-watching-this-it's-way-too-violent-change-it-to-something-else-how-about-a-crime-drama-or-something?"

Rip, noticing the incoming hand, pushed himself to roll over the arm of the couch, landing on his feet and being sure to keep the corner of the couch and the little end table between himself and his father, holding the remote as far away from Ralf as possible for good measure. "Dude, you just contradicted yourself! And he's worried about his friends!"

Ralph shook his head, only focusing on Rip because he was preventing him from doing anything to the TV. "He-shouldn't-be-that-worried-it's-not-like-it'll-make-any-difference-to-him-what-happens-to-them."

"Bullshit!" Rip shouted, wishing he could get in his father's face and defend the remote at the same time. "Of course it matters; those are his friends out there, and they're in trouble!"

Rev, for all intents and purposes, looked as though he wasn't even paying attention to the essential war between his brother and his father raging only a few feet away from him; his attention wasn't even on the TV anymore. He was just staring at the wall, knowing that this was the time to make a decision. He'd seen the fight; there was no way his friends would win at that rate. He could leave right then, travel at full speed, get there in time to help. But then he'd be abandoning his family- well, his parents, anyway. However, if he stayed, he'd be flaking on his friends; though they may never know about it, he'd never be able to face them again knowing he'd left them behind when they needed him. Everything that had happened the past few weeks came rushing back all at once, and he found himself unable to respond to anything else.

_They don't give a damn about what makes you happy, Rev.  
_

"They're-not-his-friends-anymore-that-was-the-past-and-now-it's-none-of-his-business."

_You'll be stuck behind that desk for the rest of your life, and both you and I know that isn't what you want_.

"Like hell they aren't! He's been on a team with them for how many years now?! That doesn't just disappear overnight!"

_You need to go your own way, Rev, before they suffocate you._

"It-can-and-it-did-end-of-discussion!"

_Rev, family doesn't always have to come first, especially when your family is the one causing the problem._

"Just because you say it's so, oh great and powerful god of the household, doesn't mean it's true! You can't just take away a part of someone's life like that!"

_You can't turn your back on those who care about you.  
_  
"Yes-I-can-because-I-know-what's-best-for-him!"

"No-you-don't!" Rev all but screamed, suddenly springing up from the couch and digging his hands into his crest as he tried to clear his head before something else came up to make him change his mind again.

Both Rip and Ralph jumped at the sudden outburst, looking at Rev in astonishment. They couldn't remember the last time the normally happy-go-lucky roadrunner had yelled at anyone, let alone of them like that. Ralph's jaw was rolling around on the floor by then, and Rip would have been jumping for joy if he wasn't so shocked at his brother's sudden explosion.

Rev, meanwhile, wasn't giving anyone a chance to finish processing what was happening; like a true Runner, he was rocketing through his speech, much faster than normal as everything he'd been holding in for weeks burst outward like a crack in a dam that had reached its final breaking point.

"Yes-you're-my-family-and-yes-you're-important-to-me-and-I-will-always-take-into-account-what-you-want-for-me-but-frankly-you're-being-_ridiculous_-you're-trying-to-get-me-to-repress-my-powers-which-are-now-part-of-who-I-am-and-now-you're-telling-me-to-essentially-stand-back-and-watch-as-the-people-who-are-like-a-second-family-to-me-get-seriously-hurt-or-worse-all-so-I-can-exist-as-some-sort-of-desk-jockey-for-your-company-while-essentially-not-existing!" he shouted, all he could manage in one breath. His face was as red as his feathers at that point; he had to take a couple of quick, gasping breaths before he could continue.

Ralph took this opportunity to speak, though he looked appropriately chastised and…_afraid_ of his son. "But…but-we're-family-Rev-and-we-just-want-to-see-you-happy."

"_Do-you?!_" Rev asked accusingly. "Then-why-does-it-seem-like-you're-just-trying-to-smother-me-to-death-and-why-does-this-sense-of-_family _ -only-apply-to-me-you've-been-acting-like-Rip-doesn't-exist-again-and-you've-been-too-focused-on-keeping-me-on-a-leash-to-realize-and-if-all-this-has-made-me-realize-anything-at-all-it-means-that-family-isn't-law-and-that-I-really-should-listen-to-Tech-more-because-he-was-right-when-he-told-me-that-the-ones-who-should-take-priority-are-the-ones-who-really-care-and-lately-that-hasn't-been-you!"

With that closing remark, Rev shot out of the house, not even bothering to pause to open the door and instead jumping through an open window, exiting fast enough to slightly singe the carpet and displace anything not bolted down with wind turbulence. Rip sort of wished he'd stuck around long enough so that he could give him a standing ovation. And yet, he could understand why he'd left in such a hurry; according to the TV, the rest of the Loonatics were still receiving a good beating, and on top of that, the shit was going to hit the fan once Pa snapped out of his shock long enough to process that the Prodigal Son had just left the building.

Turning to relish the look on Ralph's face, though, Rip was surprised to see a completely blank look for a moment. Because he was looking right at him, Rip noticed the change; his mysteriously yellowed eyes shifted back to their natural white color. The look of surprise returned, then underwent a quick series of succession to shock, realization, and increasing horror.

"…Pa?" Rip asked heasitantly, wondering just what was going through the older Runner's head. It wasn't like he'd been unconscious for this whole episode and was only just realizing what he'd put his sons through…right?

Ralph jumped slightly, snapped out of his reverie by his son's voice. "Rip!" he exclaimed as though he hadn't seen him in weeks, quickly zipping around the couch with his normal speed and hugging his younger son as tightly as he could. Rip could only give a look of utter confusion and mild disturbance to the back of his head. "I'm-so-sorry-and-I-have-so-much-to-fill-you-in-on-but-right-now-we-have-to-go-after-your-brother-where's-Ma?"

Rip immediately frowned as he was released. "What do you mean 'go after him'? I'm not letting you try to stop him again!"

"No-no-no-no-no-I-wouldn't-dream-of-it-but-there's-so-much-to-explain…" Ralph trailed off as Harriet walked into the room, noting her still-transfixed eye color.

"What-is-with-all-the-yelling-and-where's-Rev?" she asked, looking only mildly perturbed.

"Rip-can-you-pull-the-car-around-I-owe-you-one-heck-of-an-explanation-and-you'll-get-it-on-the-way," Ralph said, handing the still lost-looking Rip the keys and ushering him towards the door to the garage before turning back to his not quite in her right mind wife. "Harriet-honey-we're-going-on-a-little-trip-to-Acmetropolis-okay-hopefully-they'll-know-how-to-fix-you-too."

"Fix-what?" Harriet asked dumbly as her husband gently herded her towards the car.

**A/N: And the situation begins to resolve itself. Let's face it; Rev? Blowing up at someone? That would be kinda shocking. He's just too…nice for that. **

**Anyway, the next chapter might be late; here's why. A) my teachers have finally succeeded in killing me and I'm not sure when the murder-fest will end. B) the next chapter will either be longer, but finish the story, or will still be fairly long and the final ends will be tied up in a final chapter. But I'm really leaning toward the first option, just because what would be a final-final chapter would be fairly unsubstantial on its own. (Good thing I'm not superstitious, 'cause I'm ending at 13 chapters! XD *bricked*) **

**Reviews convince me to come out of my grave long enough to post chapters! *shot**buried***

Ugh, see, I'm so dead I forgot to include the translations! (Thanks to iwolf208 for pointing that out!) I numbered them and everything this time! Ah, well, better late than never, right?

And sorry for the roughness of some of these. I actually take Latin, and the friend I usually annoy until she does these for me was on vacation, so I had to rely on Google Translate. *shudder*

More thanks to iwolf208 for inadvertantly becoming my replacement translator!

(1) Hey, crazy animals

(2) idiot

(3) A Spanish curse word. No need to give an exact translation of this one.

(4) genius

(5) See number three.

(6) "Shut up!" Sive snapped. "You don't know everything!"

(7) As usual

(8) My stupid cousin


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Yah, I figured this one would be late, but not this late. Sorry about that, but these past few weeks have been both busy and weird, in a depressing way, and I haven't really felt like writing much. :/ I just wasn't feeling up to it. Not much of an excuse, but it's all I got. The good news is, the large delay gave me time to edit it over and over until I was happy with this, and that took a while (which is why I shouldn't write what's supposed to be happy parts when I'm feeling sad.) Plus I had two potential endings for this, and I **_**really**_** wanted to use both of them, but I would have had to do something with the other one in my next story and there's nowhere to fit it in, so I had to go with this one.**

**So, anyway, if I tried finishing the story in this chapter, you all would have to wait another week with nothing, so I decided to get this up now (it's already ridiculously long as it is, anyway,) and put up the short conclusion chapter in the next week or two. Since it's going to be fairly short, (probably,) I hope to have it up at the end of this week, but I have no clue how my schedule will be and AP Finals are rapidly approaching, so it's all up in the air. I have lots of time off next week, though, so odds are it will be up by then at the latest. The good news is, I'm not ending on unlucky number 13.**

**Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Candlestic, Halloween Witch, iwolf208 (thanks again for being my translation editor on the last chapter!), Luna246, and Angelus Draco for your reviews! It's the only thing my muse accepts as payment anymore!**

Sive wondered why Tech relied on his gadgets so much; he could probably take over the city with his magnetism alone if he'd put his mind to it. Of course, supplying him with so much ammo by being on an active construction site was only exacerbating the issue. But, she only had herself to blame for that one.

Noting how random shots from friend and foe alike were flying fast and frequently, and how Tech wasn't exactly in his right mind, and how any one of their nearby teammates could be chosen by the coyote as an alternate target at any time, Sive had thought it best to draw Tech as far away from them as possible. The only way she could do this was by making sure she consistently had his attention, constantly getting in his way and quasi-attacking him (with no intention of actually hitting him) whenever he tried to stray.

She had been able to draw him to the other side of the semi-constructed park before running into an issue; namely, the area where the workers stored tools and building supplies. As a result, Tech was running the show, forcing Sive to dart around and perform great gymnastic feats to avoid being pelted by anything metallic that had been lying around, which consisted of more or less everything that had been lying around. She could only hold her phase for a limited time, after all; less than a minute before the customary tingly, sleeping-limb feeling of using that power spread and increased to the point where she would black out, a natural safety feature so the phase wouldn't spontaneously stop when she was halfway through something. It had only happened once, not long after she'd gotten her powers, but her phase hadn't worked right for days afterward; she wasn't too keen on a repeat performance, especially when faced with a turncoat teammate and two dangerous mice.

Hence why she couldn't really do anything but take a tool to the face as she simultaneously jumped over a long bit of pipe and ducked under some fancy steel part she couldn't identify; the wrench was the more preferable of the three.

Growling in pain and frustration, she ducked below what looked like an emptied toolbox, rolling to temporarily take cover behind a large tube structure; she could only pray it wasn't magnetic. The lack of movement suggested it wasn't; hypnotized or not, Tech was never one to waste much time when pursuing a target, Sive mused as she tenderly fingered her injured cheek, not too surprised to find red on the tips of her fingers. Shaking her hand and scowling, she didn't spend too long grousing over her most recent minor injury; any moment not spent on avoiding being killed was one spent on trying to figure out how to snap the other coyote out of the trance.

Remembering what they did for Ace wouldn't apply as well to Tech; being as smart as he was, Sive knew she would never be able to say something convincingly shocking enough to snap him out of it. Considering how she was practically dancing around to avoid being skewered by passing screwdrivers, doing something shocking seemed out of the question as well; everything she could think to do, anyway. They were out in the open, and his attention was fully on her; no surprising him.

It hadn't escaped her notice that the group still fighting Slo-Mo was having even more issues than before; now that he was utilizing the full range of his abilities, they had even less opportunities to attack, spending more time dodging than retaliating. Though they no longer had to do as much dancing around each other, the loss of Tech's support proved to hurt more than help. Duck, too, was having trouble corralling Jet on his own; every time he quacked, he would lose track of the speedy mouse, and have to spend more time searching for him before quacking to catch up to him and repeating the process. She wasn't going to check right then, but Sive figured that there wasn't much ground left to cover before the two mice met up again.

A slight creak of unevenly balanced metal alerted her to the incoming threat; instinctively rolling forward, she pushed back to her feet just in time to see a long, heavy piece of steel rebar vertically bury itself into the ground where she'd just been.

"Well that would've hurt," she stated to herself, turning to the other coyote and phasing as a round of poised screwdrivers attempted to turn her into Swiss cheese.

Springing to her feet to avoid a hammer assault, she used the sparse trees and larger machinery to her advantage, occasionally launching a small, concentrated electrical burst at any unavoidable, particularly dangerous projectiles. One shot had a little too much energy to it, impacting its target yet still having enough force behind it for smaller sparks to continue and pelt Tech with harmless, yet annoying shocks.

Sive winced sympathetically, not having meant to do that, but was nevertheless grateful for the momentary reprieve. It gave her a chance to think over the options Tech had presented them with Ace. All things he'd dubbed "psychological shocks" were already out. That left scaring him- already discarded- sudden loud sounds- if her thunder hadn't done that already, nothing would- and pain. Normally she wouldn't even consider it; she'd been going well out of her way to avoid hurting him as it was. But it was her last option. Electricity was painful. It moved fast enough that she would undoubtedly be able to land a hit. And Tech could regenerate.

Sighing in defeat, she gathered an ample amount of charge before darting out from behind a tree. Tech had lost track of her following her accidental attack, but immediately moved to restart his barrage once she appeared again. She was quicker.

"Sorry, Tech," she murmured before turning and launching one, strong bolt of energy right at her friend.

Hypnotized or not, Tech's reaction time was still admirable. He immediately dropped everything that had been levitating with his magnetism, collecting that energy around himself instead and concentrating it into a shield. Sive knew that the bolt she'd released was more than strong enough to break through it; the fact that Tech didn't seem to put her on edge. This thinking was only reinforced when her electrical bolt inexplicably veered drastically off course when it neared Tech's shield, angling left and blowing a large hole into the side of the large pipe Sive had used for cover earlier.

Her facial expression must have been hilarious if she managed to get a smirk out of Tech while he was hypnotized. "Basic physics: magnetism can deflect electric current," he stated, making Sive really regret never getting more than most of a grade school education.

Cursing profusely in her head, their previous round of target practice restarted, Tech bringing his magnetic arsenal back up and between him and Sive. This time, though, his attacks were more fast-paced and frequent; he could tell that she was tiring. She was moving much slower than she had been, and relying more on her phase.

Sive knew it, too; she would be unable to continue after long. Though she was built to be a runner, she was tiring fast; the tingles from her phase were spreading to alarming levels; and at the rate Tech was firing at her, she couldn't keep up with everything flying through her. Black spots started appearing in her line of vision; something had to give. Tech was determined that it be her.

With all that was going on, it was a miracle that Sive noticed Tech's attention change at all; some of the flying tools dropped as the coyote's magnetic focus turned elsewhere, and the ones left in the air almost imperceptibly slowed. She felt that the energy spent on phasing would have been a good investment; indulging for only a split second, she allowed what seemed to have become the secondary attack to whirl harmlessly about her like a swarm of flies as she looked for the primary.

Tech had been aiming for a quick end; Sive was only just able to react fast enough to bend her knees and lean her upper body back to avoid the pointed end of the jackhammer he'd attempted to use to run her through with from behind. However, she was far from being in the clear; if anything, she was in more danger, as she only realized when the sharp hammer clipped her shoulder when she couldn't twist back fast enough, tearing through her shirt and breaking her skin. With a feeling of despair, she realized that her phase had failed right before the extended handlebars crashed into her so far uninjured shoulder, resulting in a hard impact on the ground.

Dazed from both the blow and the overextension, Sive didn't see as Tech, focused only on eliminating the perceived threat and unable to think of anything else, brought the hammer back around.

Fortunately, he never got the chance to use it.

A loud rush of wind was the only warning Tech got before being more or less tackled by a blue blur that moments later materialized into a familiar face.

"Tech-what-the-heck-are-you-doing-what's-wrong-wit h-you-why-are-you-attacking-Sive-SNAP-OUT-OF-IT!" Rev shouted into his friend's face, hands planted on his shoulders and vigorously shaking the thunderstruck coyote. Tech, not prepared in the least for the aerial attack, let out a high pitched yelp of surprise and jumped back as soon as he was released, looking at Rev as though he were a ghost and positioned as though ready to run away.

Rev, satisfied that his friend had sufficiently snapped out of whatever had been possessing him, left him in favor of zipping over to help Sive to her feet as she shook off the hit. It took her a moment to realize just who was assisting her, but once she did, she shook her head and blinked a few times to make sure that Rev really was there and not just a result of a head injury. It would have been an odd way to picture him, though; he looked rather disheveled, and was still in his natural blue-purple coloring. His clothes were another story; he'd obviously been in a hurry, judging by the scorching on the back of his once nice dress shirt and the edges of his sleeves and pants. She processed all this while Rev pulled her to her feet.

"Tech-looks-like-he's-back-I-think-but-are-you-oka y-Sive?" Rev asked quickly, not fully facing her as his gaze darted around between the two coyotes and two fights with the mice that was rapidly becoming one, taking in everything around him and trying to fill in what he'd missed.

Sive dumbly nodded, still trying to figure out what was going on as Rev, satisfied that the situation with the coyotes was cleared up, zipped off to where he was really needed with the mice. Tech and Sive, however, needed another moment to collect themselves and figure out what had just happened; Rev's whirlwind way of doing things left them with little time to ask him.

Sive, just to double check, looked over to Tech and was glad to see the yellow gone from his eyes. "If you're not hell bent on attacking everyone anymore, we should probably go help the others. The sooner we do, the sooner we can know the story with Rev."

Tech slowly nodded in agreement, forcibly stopping himself from reasoning out any more possible scenarios regarding Rev's presence; they were still in the middle of a battle, after all. Catching sight of Sive, though, he paused. "Uh, you alright?" he asked, noticing all the little cuts and dings about her person, and feeling immense guilt when he realized that it was him that had done that.

Sive thought for a moment, as though considering just how bad off she was, before experimentally kicking at the ground, pleased when her toes successfully phased through after the short reprieve before standing straight again. "Yep, I'm good," she replied, running off to join the others.

Tech rolled his eyes; that hadn't been what he'd meant at all. But, he didn't really have time to argue with her, and she would just brush him off anyway, he mused as he followed after her. Besides, now that Rev was there, he knew of a way to beat the mice.

**xoxoxoxox**

If things had been going downhill before Tech got hypnotized, they were drilling themselves into the ground after the fact. Slo-Mo had pulled out all the stops, throwing everything he had at the Loonatics; he even got a few opportunities to get some shots off at Duck. The mallard himself was having trouble keeping track of Jet; with how fast the mouse moved, he found it more and more difficult to throw eggs accurately, meaning he was unable to throw the miniature miscreant off course as often as he would have liked. Every time he quacked was a chance for Jet to quickly vacate the area while the mallard couldn't see him; having to avoid the laserfire from Slo-Mo only gave the speedster more opportunity to cover more ground. One more offensive from the two mice was all it would take for them to meet up again.

Of course, getting closer to each other had its disadvantages for the mice as well. Their proximity allowed Ace and Lexi to occasionally take potshots at Jet, and it was the same with Duck and Slo-Mo. Slam, too, was doing more to help Duck than with Ace and Lexi; he wasn't too keen on being forced to run into them again, and distancing himself from Slo-Mo made that less likely to happen.

Slo-Mo still stood more or less where he'd begun in the middle of the stone pathway, only occasionally taking a step to avoid being hit. Ace and Lexi were skilled enough to stay out in the open to combat him; Lexi, with her inherent gymnastic ability, was able to artfully dodge with flips and rolls, almost looking as though she were dancing some of the time; Ace, on the other hand, used his agility to dash out of the way for most of the shots, and the Guardian Strike Sword for the rest, doing his best to avoid his teammates while deflecting anything.

Slo-Mo had been favoring his slowing ability for the last leg of the fight, hence why Slam had stuck with Duck for the most part. Lexi and Ace, on the other hand, were forced to dodge each other's brain blasts and lasers as the mouse intermittently slowed them almost to a stop and released them back to full speed at no notice once an unfortunate rabbit had stepped into its range.

"Duck! Incoming!" Lexi shouted at the mallard as one of Ace's earlier shots was released, going over Slo-Mo's head and almost into Duck's; with Lexi's warning, he had enough time to hit the deck, the laser only just singing the feathers on the top of his head. This gave Jet a chance he'd been waiting for.

"Adios, tonto!(1)" Jet exclaimed, jumping up surprisingly high and using Slam's head as a landing platform to completely leap-frog over the bamboozled Tasmanian devil. Once he landed, he ripped away at full speed for his cousin.

Duck, fortunately, was only distracted for a moment; quacking into a different position, he launched an egg directly at Jet from the side. The mouse saw it coming and cut a quick U-turn, but Slo-Mo, too, acted on the attack meant for his cousin by hitting it with his slowing ability, the green light enveloping the egg and almost stopping it in mid-air. The quasi-impact broke open the egg in slow-motion, revealing that it was either a magma egg or one of the ones that just exploded.

Ace had noticed all these details, and wondered what Slo-Mo was doing; his cousin had been clear of the attack, and there was little to no chance of hitting a Loonatic when that particular projectile with that particular trajectory was released. It was fortunate he'd been paying attention to that little detail, or none of the Loonatics would have seen the danger. Almost at the same time as he stopped Duck's egg, Slo-Mo had released one of Lexi's earlier brain blasts, and only Ace noticed as it continued on its original course- right into Duck's egg.

"Look out!" he shouted, grabbing Lexi next to him and pulling her down to the ground. Duck, hearing his shout, instinctively quacked away; Slam, having been left behind after Jet vaulted over him and as such being slightly more out of the way than the others, felt that ducking behind a nearby bulldozer was safe enough.

The explosion from one of Duck's eggs normally wasn't much; coupled with a brain blast as a catalyst and the momentary containment of Slo-Mo's ability, it wasn't necessarily more powerful, but much more widespread, scorching the ground and emitting a bright, lasting flash of light. Though Slo-Mo had been the one to launch the attack, both mice had both somehow been prepared for it; the Loonatics had not. When all was said and done and they had collected themselves, Jet was sprinting for his cousin, little more than a brown blur in his bid to ensure their victory. Slo-Mo, taking into account just how fast Jet was moving, jumped at the right moment so as to land on his cousin's shoulders and take off. None of them would have been able to act fast enough to stop them.

Just as the two were about to reconnect, a blue blur entered the scene, clotheslining Slo-Mo in mid-air and tripping up Jet, sending Slo-Mo flying one way with the force of the newcomer's speed and Jet flying the other way with the force of his own, resulting in more ground being lost than they had gained in the last scrimmage. The Loonatics picked themselves up as their mystery helper came back around, stopping between the two mice to ensure that they would remain separated.

"Rev?!" Lexi exclaimed, voicing the collective disbelief of all her teammates as they took in the new presence.

"Hi-guys-sorry-I'm-late-but-you-know-how-it-is-aro und-here-_traffic ,"_ Rev said jokingly, waving his hand on the last word for emphasis.

"What are ya doin' here?" Ace asked him as the others caught up to the roadrunner, Tech and Sive not too far behind. "I thought your parents wanted ya ta quit?"

"Yeah-they-did-but-they're-not-right-in-their-acti ons-or-their-thinking-and-were-being-more-neurotic -than-usual-about-it-and-I-got-really-mad-and-blew -up-and-left-so-I'm-back!" Rev explained rapidly, sounding and appearing ecstatic at the prospect of returning before sobering. "That-is-I'm-back-if-you-guys-will-have-me-because -I-was-wrong-to-leave-in-the-first-place-because-y ou-guys-are-family-too-and-I-shouldn't-have-just-l eft-you-behind-when-you-really-needed-my-help-and- I'm-sorry-it-took-me-so-long-to-realize-it."

Lexi, of course, teared up at the display, wrapping the despondent roadrunner into a tight, comforting hug, and Slam quickly followed, not wanting to wait and simply sweeping them both up into a bone-crushing embrace. "Rev," Sive began, "we have all but gotten killed while you were gone; if you want to be back, then of _course_ we're taking you- forcibly, if need be."

"Yeah," Lexi gasped out as Slam finally released them. "You can't just call us family and then expect us to kick you out!"

Rev looked like he was about to cry. "You-guys-are-great-you-know-that?"

"As much as I love hearing about how great I am," Duck interrupted, "we still have two mice to deal with."

Everyone immediately snapped to, some facing one mouse and some turning to the other. "I'm thinkin' we should revise our plan, seein' as da last one didn't really work," Ace suggested, gaze shifting between Jet, who was still trying to fully collect himself, and Slo-Mo who was taking an agonizing amount of time getting to his feet. "Got any new ideas, Tech?"

"We've been approaching these two backwards; what we really need to do is go for numbers on Jet to overwhelm him," Tech stated. "Rev is the ideal candidate to target Slo-Mo; he's fast enough that Slo-Mo won't be able to get a lock on him, and he'll be able to land some hits. I'll help him since Slo-Mo won't be able to do much with my abilities to trip up Rev. The rest of you, try to corner Jet; it won't be possible to physically hold onto him for long, so trapping him somehow is best."

"We'll figure dat part out," Ace replied, before some unspoken order was issued and the two teams simultaneously split up, rushing their respective targets. Jet, seeing the oncoming attack, jumped to his feet and attempted to circumvent the group; Duck appeared in his path as a deterrent, and Slam took off after the mouse in his attempt to flee. Lexi and Sive monitored, ready to launch an attack to keep him off his path when needed; with so many eyes on him, Jet had no escape unless he could miraculously clear a path through all of the Loonatics at once. Ace, meanwhile, looked around, searching for a way to trap the speedy mouse; like Tech had implied, holding onto him would have been like trying to hold onto a smaller and slower but still dangerously fast Rev when he didn't want to be stopped. It didn't take too long to spot something.

"Hey Sive, Lex!" he called, catching the girls' attention. "I got an idea!"

Jet was panicking. The success of their whole plan had revolved around the absence of that roadrunner; he could outdo them in speed by leaps and bounds. Considering how his cousin relied on having targets slow enough that he could keep up with, and how he himself relied on being faster than everyone to save his own hide, that one roadrunner could and _would_ completely foil them; on top of that, they were still separated, a possibility they hadn't even considered. Now he was stuck with much more than he could deal with in the form of five-sevenths of the Loonatics' team, and his cousin was in just as deep with the remaining two.

Swerving to avoid the randomly appearing Duck, he almost ran right into Slam; as it was, he ended up running close enough to the purple tornado that the resulting wind made him almost lose his balance. Fortunately for him, Ace called the Tasmanian devil away before he could try doing anything while he was tripped up, only for him to run into Duck again; however, the electrical bolt that came up just short was the real problem, sending him tumbling back.

"I am _really _wishing I'd listened to Slo-Mo and got myself a gun!" he angrily grumbled to himself as he somersaulted once more to get to his feet, entering retreat mode and zipping away; for now, at least. He'd have to go back for Slo-Mo at some point, or his aunt would kill him herself. The Loonatics, however, had other ideas.

Quacking into his path yet again, Duck threw eggs at him as fast as he could make them, forcing Jet into a hard turn to the left. However, Ace was there waiting for him, giving one great swing with his sword to deter him from heading straight and a few lasers to force him left again. Sive and Lexi were there that time, putting him under so much fire, despite not wanting to go where they were leading him to, he had no choice but to make a hard right- only to have to break hard enough that the soles of his shoes started smoking to avoid running into a parked bulldozer.

With his stature, climbing over it wasn't an option, and turning around, he found that Duck had quacked in to help the girls form a wall, and Ace was rapidly approaching as well. He was stuck, but they didn't have him yet, and he figured they wouldn't get him like that; they would still have to physically catch him to stop him, and even then he could generate enough momentum to break any hold, even the Tasmanian devil's. Once they made a move forward, he could do like he did earlier and jump over them and weave between them to trip them up; it wasn't their style to land kill shots unless absolutely necessary, after all.

"You think you have me, don't you?" he asked, warily eyeing the Loonatics as he waited to make his move. "Well, you're wrong! No one can catch Jet-!"

Before he could finish his line, Slam, who had been standing on the other side of the motor, had climbed over to the right side of the bulldozer and trapped the small mouse inside of the barrel of the empty cement mixer Ace had told him to fetch earlier.

"Hey, who turned off the lights?!" the disgruntled rodent shouted, jumping around in an attempt to get the heavy piece of equipment to tip over so he could escape. It didn't look like it would work, but Duck quacked over the barrel and landed so he was sitting on top of it, just in case.

"Finally!" Lexi sighed in relief now that they had at least one mouse under wraps. "I was beginning to think we'd never catch him!"

"Yeah, but dere's still one more ta catch," Ace reminded her as they all turned to the still ongoing fight with Slo-Mo.

**xoxoxoxox**

The majority of the team ran off after Jet split, leaving Tech and Rev with Slo-Mo, who still didn't seem to want to move much, disinterestedly watching as his cousin ran off before shifting his gaze to the remaining Loonatics.

"I thought we'd taken care of you…" Slo-Mo mused to himself as he took in Rev's presence. His statement didn't get past Tech and Rev, both immediately wondering what that had meant. "No matter… I'll just have to deal with both of you before hightailing it out of here, si?"

Both Tech and Rev ducked behind a partially built reflective metal wall as Slo-Mo raised his gun and began firing at his unbelievable pace once again. "Uh-Tech?" Rev began as he finally began to get caught up with the situation. "Has-it-crossed-your-mind-yet-to-oh-I-don't-know-_disarm_-_him_?!"

"I tried, it's not magnetic," the coyote replied in a hurried voice, knowing that they could only sit idle for so long before Slo-Mo's seemingly endless patience ran out, "and we haven't been able to get close enough to take it from him."

"I-guess-I'll-have-to-do-that-then," Rev observed, preparing to run. "He-won't-be-able-to-keep-up-with-me-with-his-reac tion-time."

Tech's hand shot out, catching Rev's arm before he could dash away. "Yes, that's true- to a point. He can shoot fast enough that even _you_ won't be able to react fast enough once you get close enough to him."

"You're-right," Rev agreed, taking note of how fast he'd been shooting at them earlier while relaxing his stance. "So-that-means-he-can't-see-me-coming-or-at-least- not-until-I'm-close-enough-that-he-won't-be-able-t o-react-fast-enough-to-do-anything."

"I could hold up some of these loose plates in front of us as the two of us approach him," Tech suggested, gesturing towards some of the plates for the wall that hadn't been welded in yet. "They could act as a shield, and you could jump out at the last minute."

"No-the-time-it-would-take-me-to-get-around-the-pl ates-is-enough-for-him-to-get-a-shot-off," Rev replied, immediately falling into their customary back-and-forth routine of the labs as though he'd never left.

"Then I'll just do that and hold up the other one as a dummy while you come in from behind."

Rev took a quick inspection of the plates before shaking his head. "They're-way-too-thin-to-offer-you-much-protection -and-whether-or-not-you-can-regenerate-it's-no-rea son-to-get-shot-up-but-you-have-something-with-me- flying-in-we-just-need-some-kind-of-distraction-so -he-won't-see-me-coming."

Tech nodded. "I could still use these plates; put them up around him, make a wall, move them around. It'll be like a house of mirrors. If I keep them moving, he'll be too disoriented to react when I lower the plates so you can fly in."

Rev nodded, preparing to run again, before pausing and looking back to Tech. "You-know-I-really-missed-doing-that."

Tech paused as well, smiling and momentarily clasping a friendly hand on Rev's shoulder. "Me, too. Sive's good, but she's no you."

They sadly did not have the time to have a moment, and Tech made as if to detach himself and run back out into the fray, when something occurred to him. "One quick thing- remember how we had thought that one of them could wipe minds based off of the bank security footage?"

Rev nodded. "Yeah-I-do-is-it-this-guy-should-I-watch-for-that? "

"Yes, it's Slo-Mo, but it isn't what we thought. It's why I was attacking Sive earlier; he can essentially hypnotize people just by looking at him. If you see a yellow flash, look away, get away, _something, _just don't let it get to you. It turns your eyes yellow and you don't act like yourself, and it can be incredibly difficult to snap someone out of it. Trying to catch you would be near impossible."

Rev nodded in understanding as Tech ran off, but he didn't immediately fly off. He felt as though he should have remembered something, something important… There was no time for that now, he concluded, rocketing out of their hiding place opposite from where Tech had gone and taking to the sky, making a wide arc before doubling back to give Tech plenty of time to distract the mouse.

The coyote, meanwhile, ran out of hiding and magnetically took all of the loose metal- more than a dozen 5x3 reflective steel panels- with him into the fray. Slo-Mo, who had begun to slowly walk towards the other Loonatics pursuing Jet, stopped his painfully slow trek and turned on the coyote, drawing his pistol and firing at him. Tech rolled to avoid the first couple of shots and sacrificed a panel to stop the last few, acknowledging how Rev had been right about their build as it almost instantly shattered like glass, melting around the points of impact, but altering the laser's trajectory enough that he escaped unscathed.

However, Slo-Mo did not have a clear line of fire for long. The magnetically floating panels flew in front of Tech, forming a long line of metal that sliced between the mouse and coyote before turning back, eventually forming a circle that continually spun around the mouse, leaving him with little more to look at than numerous broken reflections of himself and occasional views of Tech and the other Loonatics in the distance through the cracks. To make things even more confusing, Tech had some of the panels break ranks, forming two smaller circles that continually spun about Slo-Mo in different directions, showing more confusing images that ruined his depth perception.

Slo-Mo, usually calm and detached, began to panic. He relied on taking notice of everything around him, being able to make predictions of other's movements ahead of time so he could react fast enough. Now, though, he could see nothing, not even himself clearly in the rotating mirrors, and he knew he was in trouble. Left with few other options, he began wildly firing at the panels, trying to clear a path so he could just _see_. They shattered, and the magnetism stopped affecting them, Tech not sparing the mind power to continue moving the individual shards and instead allowing them to loudly clatter to the ground.

Slo-Mo had three layers of glass to break through, and wasn't thinking straight enough to time his shots correctly to do it quickly; he only broke through out of sheer luck, and the fact that Tech slowed his confusing rotation before laying all the panels flat so Rev could get to him. The roadrunner had seen which way the mouse had been facing from the air, and so had positioned himself correctly to swoop in from behind. Slo-Mo, in his panicked state, turned around much quicker than many would have thought him able, but was still too frazzled to fire at the oncoming roadrunner with any real aim. The shot went wild, hitting the ground before ever actually reaching Rev. It was the only one he could get off before the roadrunner reached him, grabbing hold of the mouse's gun and forcibly taking it. The barrel was still hot from all the use, so Rev had to drop it quickly to avoid burning himself; it landed far enough away that Slo-Mo could never reach it before Tech or Rev intercepted.

Tech stayed out of the way, watching in awe as Rev quickly got the best of the mouse that had been causing them trouble for weeks. Coming back around and traveling at amazing speeds, Rev began spiraling around Slo-Mo as the mouse, running out of options, began trying to lock onto him with his slowing ability. With each futile attempt, the green glow only wrapped itself around an empty space Rev had vacated moments before, getting closer and closer to its intended target but never actually reaching it as Rev rapidly approached. In a last ditch effort, Slo-Mo stopped trying to catch the roadrunner that way and waited, biding his time until he felt that Rev was close enough for his suggestion to take effect.

Unfortunately for the mouse, he was acting too little on his reasoning abilities to judge his timing correctly; the yellow glow had barely begun to spread before Rev finally reached him, grabbing onto one of the ends of his mask tied behind his head and spinning the mouse around by it for a few rotations before finally releasing him and dashing back to Tech, leaving a dizzy, disoriented mouse behind. His mask had displaced itself with the pull, blinding the mouse and rendering his suggestion ability useless, also leaving him unable to see where to aim his slowing ability.

By this time, Jet had been trapped, and the police, patiently waiting for the danger to be cleared, had entered the scene. One of them had taken the girls' spot keeping Jet inside the cement mixer, wondering just how to transport the slippery mouse without losing him in the process as the criminal in question swore profusely in two languages. Others, upon getting the immediate all-clear from Tech and Rev, moved in before Slo-Mo got his wits about him enough to think of loosing his mask, cuffing him as he slowly moved to do so.

"You're under arrest," one cop began, pulling out a pad to go over the numerous offenses the mice had committed.

Slo-Mo didn't bother listening, once he realized what had happened, and shrugged, going back to his apathetic self as he realized that the game was done and that he and his cousin would be going away for a very long time. "Que sera, sera," (2) he said as he was led away. "We will see what the future holds."

**xoxoxoxox**

The Loonatics were able to step back as the police moved in, and they were grateful for the chance to properly welcome Rev back, now that the shock of his sudden arrival was gone and the danger was no more.

Lexi and Slam both couldn't help but give the roadrunner more hugs, as did everyone else- even Duck gave him a quick, one-armed embrace while muttering about Rev's usual good timing. Tech, too, stoic as he usually was, gave Rev a hug to rival Lexi's in strength, glad to have his friend back. Sive, after giving her own welcome-back hug, questioningly inspected Rev's appearance.

"What?" Rev said defensively, looking himself over. He looked as though he'd just escaped from a burning building, based off his clothes. "These-aren't-fireproof-like-my-uniform-is…or-rath er-was."

"_Is_," Ace corrected, walking up and patting Rev on the shoulder. "I kept your uniform for ya, just in case. Like I said, there would always be a place for ya back at HQ. Speakin' a which, I gotta call Zadavia when we get back."

"After you get fixed up," Lexi asserted, pointing out a few of his minor injuries.

"Yeah," Ace agreed, looking at everyone else's haggard appearances, "we all look like we could do with a patch job. Except you two, of course."

Tech and Rev looked at each other before nonchalantly shrugging. "Regeneration and late arrivals have their advantages," Tech stated before looking around the quickly filling park. Police were still crawling around the area, now with intermingled construction workers and a rapidly growing population of reporters. "We should probably get out of here before we get cornered by the media, or we won't be able to get any medical attention for hours."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's jet, Loonatics," Ace said, leading the group down an alley and around a building to find a less populated area to take off from. However, they weren't expecting to run into anyone along the way.

"…I-know-it-souds-crazy-Rip-but-I-swear-that's-wha t-happened-and-I-don't-know-how-else-to-explain-it -and-I-know-that-it's-no-excuse-for-my-actions-but -it's-all-I-got-son-and-oh-Rev-there-you-are-we-we re-so-worried!" Ralph, only just appearing around the corner with Rip in tow, exclaimed as he dashed forward with a surprising amount of speed for one without superpowers and enthusiastically embraced his son.

"Pa…?" Rev began, staring confusedly at the back of his father's head (which was all he could see from the crushing hug) before looking to his brother for help. Rip, however, looked just as lost as his brother, looking at his father's back as though he were crazy and helplessly shrugging in a wordless response to his brother.

Ralph did not give his son much time for questioning, breaking into his own rapid speed rant only moments later while never letting go of his son. "RevI'msosorrybutIcouldn'tcontrolmyselfbecausewewe rehypnotizedbymiceandpleasedon'tthinkI'mcrazybutht hat'swhathappenedandweweresupposedtokeepyouawayfro mAcmetropolisandtheLoonaticsandthoughwedon'tentire lyapproveofthesituationwestilljustwantyoutobehappy andI'msorryIactedliketheworstparenteverand-"

The rest of the Loonatics, instead of trying to keep up with Ralph, turned to Rip for a translation. The youngest Runner only shook his head in lack of understanding. "After Rev left, it's like something snapped- whether it went into place or out of it, I have no idea. Either way, he's saying that some kind of magic mouse hypnotized both he and Ma into forcing Rev out of the team. If they were the type, I would wonder just what he's on right now." Rip turned to the Loonatics, expecting to see more looks questioning his father's sanity, but the mixed understanding and revelation alarmed him more than anything. "Oh, wait, don't you guys go telling me that he's making _sense!"_

"Sorry, Rip," Sive said consolingly, "but he is. In fact, it explains a lot."

"Have your parent's eyes been kinda…yellow lately?" Ace asked, drawing a groan from Rip.

"In what world does this make any sense…?" he muttered, frustratedly drawing a hand through his crest. "If I said 'yes', would that support whatever logic you're finding in this?"

"Let us catch you up," Lexi offered, drawing the younger Runner to the side. "And are both of your parents like this, or just him?"

"Pa got like this after Rev snapped at him," Rip explained. "Ma's still acting nutty. Pa has her locked in the backseat of the car right now until we 'figure out how to fix her, too.'"

"We can help with that," Tech stated, feeling very relieved. Knowing that Rev's parents wouldn't constantly dog him to quit the team again would save a lot of future grief.

Rev, meanwhile, was more used to his family's rapid talking rate, kept up with his father's tirade and was shocked to say the least. Gently pushing him away, both to free himself and try to get his father to stop talking for a moment, he was surprised to see Pa looking so upset. He looked hurt by what he supposed was a gesture of rejection from his son, and very self-deprecating based off of his earlier actions.

"…I'm so sorry, son," Ralph said softly, slowly, to really get the point across, slowly moving as though to step away from his oldest son.

Rev stopped him, still holding onto him but loose enough that they could still talk face-to-face, and gave him a soft, forgiving smile. "We-have-a-lot-to-straighten-out."

**A/N: Well, that's about all I have to say. It's late where I am. I'm going to sleep now. And I have school tomorrow… Curse you Spring Break, and your inevitable end.**

**Please review!**

(1) Goodbye, idiot!

(2) Whatever will be, will be. (Anyone who knows where this line is from watches good movies!)


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Yes, I know I'm late, but I have a medley of excuses this time, ranging from homicidal teachers to a flooded basement (Google weather in Chicago about two weeks ago to see what I'm talking about) and a mysterious, unexplainable fractured foot that I tried walking off for a week that made me very irritable in the interim. …It's been a weird month. And now I have AP exams fast approaching along with Semester finals and SAT subject tests and an ACT test and I haven't started studying for anything yet and…I'm gonna die. So. I figured it would be better to stay up until midnight to get this out **_**now**_** instead of having you all wait until God-knows-when. As such, some of this is not edited as well as it could be and if anyone wants me to fix anything, just say so and it will be done. **

**News on upcoming stories can be found in the second A/N at the bottom of this shockingly long, incredibly uncooperative chapter. **

**Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Candlestic (thanks for the support- really needed it!), Halloween Witch, Angelus Draco, and Luna246 for your reviews and kind words! You guys are the reason I'm up this late to get this out!  
**

**And to Ooi Shi Yi- this story is part of a series. The first one, And Then There Were Seven, though it is not my best work, may clear some things up for you.  
**

It was only after everyone arrived at HQ that they could talk. Harriet, upon catching sight of her oldest son, immediately flew into a frenzy, mixing worry over her son's condition (despite the fact that only his clothes suffered any damage) and nagging him about leaving, using his powers, and ruining his outfit. It took some coaxing, but eventually the rest of the family got her to calm down enough to be quiet and take a seat in the living room. Despite being hypnotized, she still insisted on being as far away from the two coyotes as possible. Rip, on the other hand, wanted to be nowhere near his parents.

"Okay," Ralph began unsurely once everything had settled, anxiously fidgeting and not meeting anyone's eyes. "Where-should-I-start?"

"Maybe we should go first," Ace suggested, sitting down on the arm of the couch next to Ralph. Giving the Runners the full story would immediately clear some things up, and hopefully relieve some of the obvious strain on their familial relationship. "As you know, we've been dealin' with dese two mice- who we originally thought was one criminal- who've been stealin' from all sorts of places. One has super speed, and da other has a gun, can slow things down, and, most importantly, can...what did you call it, Tech?"

"Suggestion," Tech supplied from where he was leaning against the TV. "Think of it as hypnosis. All he has to do is look at you and you're in trouble. The only indicators of being affected are acting out of the ordinary and yellowed eyes, which Rev tells us you had and, by the look of it, Mrs. Runner still does." All turned to Harriet, who was obediently staying quiet, but she couldn't help but nervously shift around at the close scrutiny. She did indeed still have very yellowed eyes; Ralph wondered how he hadn't noticed it earlier, and Rip briefly regretted not thinking more of it. "It can also be very difficult to snap someone out of," Tech concluded, looking to Rev to figure out how he fixed Ralph.

"By-the-sound-of-it-I-snapped-you-out-of-it-by-blo wing-up-at-you-like-I-did," Rev stated, looking uncomfortable with the mention of his out-of-line behavior but, unlike his dad, not apologetic in the least. He probably could have handled that situation in the living room better, but it ended well, and he had been in the right, so he had no regrets.

Rip, standing apart from his relatives, wore an unreadable expression as he took in all this new information.

Ralph nodded as though in agreement, drawing his own parallels between the general facts and his own knowledge. "That-sounds-about-right," he began once he was sure the Loonatics had nothing more to add. "A-few-weeks-ago-about-the-time-Rev-got-hurt,-they -broke-into-our-house-and-Rip-had-to-work-late-tha t-night-going-over-some-things-on-a-project-with-s ome-Japanese-associates-so-it-was-just-me-and-Harr iet." Across the room, Rip, though still not looking at his father, silently nodded in affirmation. "We're-Runners-and-we-didn't-have-time-to-react-it -happened-so-fast-there-was-a-flash-the-one-mous-s aid…said…I'm-sorry-I-don't-really-remember-somethi ng-to-do-with-Rev-I-assume-but-then-I-just-lost-co ntrol-of-myself-it-was-like-watching-life-from-a-t elevision-screen-and-then-Rev-hit-the-reset-button -when-he-got-mad-and-now…yeah," Ralph finished, despondently glancing between each member of his family, unable to convey the situation through words.

No one else spoke after Ralph's story, but there was still a lot left to be said. The air was still tense around the Runners, and it was making the Loonatics feel awkward. All that was left- apart from fixing Harriet- was for the family to finish sorting itself out. It was no place for the Loonatics to be, and all present in the room- save Harriet, who was still oblivious to all that was going on- recognized that.

"...Well," Ace began, straightening up from his position leaning against a table and heading for the door, "if no one will mind my leavin', I still gotta call Zadavia and catch her up."

Lexi was quick to follow. "I'd better go with him, or he'll never get himself patched up."

"I'd better go dig the first aid kits out of the lab, then," Tech declared, trailing after the rabbits.

And so it went until only the four Runners were left in the room. The tension could have been cut with a butter knife, and the whole family was quieter than it had ever been; Rip was still radiating bitterness in his little corner across the room, and Rev didn't want to be the first to break the silence. Ralph, meanwhile, was hesitant to talk. He remembered how livid Rev had been with him not hours ago, and he couldn't remember his optimistic and hyperactive son ever being so mad at _anyone_, let alone family. He was absolutely terrified that any attempt to meet his eldest son's eyes would be met with the same furious look of frustration and venom. Rip probably wouldn't be much better; this was the second time he'd received this type of treatment from them, after all, and the younger Runner had always been more openly expressive than his brother when he wasn't happy with something- or someone. Ralph could practically sense him brooding in the far corner.

The extended silence, however, proved to be just as painful as the talking. Keeping his gaze firmly on the floor left him with little semblance of what the atmosphere was like; all he could see was his sons' feet, and that only told him that no one was moving. Unable to take it anymore, Ralph slowly shifted his gaze upwards, ready to hide back in the floor at a moment's notice.

Just as he suspected, Rip hadn't moved at all from his earlier position, but his unhappy ruminations were directed out the 134th floor window next to him instead of at his father. Ralph could stand that- for a while, at least. Rev, on the other hand, surprised him. There was no sadness, no questioning, no hate in that unwavering gaze, only something Ralph hadn't dared hope to find; understanding. He could only stare for a few moments, shocked expression firmly in place, before his common sense reminded him that he should maybe _do something._

Slowly standing up, ignoring his wife's flabbergasted expression, Ralph slowly made his way over to his eldest son. In his corner, Rip tensed at the movement, but Rev only slightly straightened, remaining relaxed and open. He stopped just before reaching him, not knowing how comfortable his older son would have felt with contact yet.

"Rev…" Ralph began, pausing frequently and speaking slowly, trying to find the right words for what he wanted to say. He didn't want anything to come across as an excuse, after all, nor did he want to make the situation any worse by saying the wrong thing. "I just… I'm sorry, son. I know we've had this argument before…though it wasn't nearly as bad last time…and I know you know I presented some of the same arguments regarding your job now as I did then. It may have seemed like I was saying things I really felt… I just want you to know that that isn't true. There are certain things I don't fully agree with, but…so long as you're happy where you are, I don't care. I would never try to get in the way of something that you've proven many times over makes you happy. And what you said earlier about who really cares…if these guys here really mean so much to you, then you and they have my full support." Here he paused for a second, before finishing with, "Even if a couple of them are coyotes."

At the end of his speech, Rev could clearly see that his father was still tense as well as fairly uncomfortable; he still couldn't meet Rev's eyes for too long. That all melted away when Rev's soft, understanding smile grew, showing his acceptance of his father's apology. "Pa-it-means-a-lot-to-hear-you-say-that-and-I-don' t-doubt-what-you-said-happened-and-I'm-not-mad-bec ause-it-wasn't-your-fault-and-I-know-you-better-I- would-never-think-you-or-Ma-would-act-like-this-es pecially-after-the-Robo-Amigo-incident-unless-I-sa w-it-myself-and-now-I'll-need-to-take-hypnosis-int o-account-but-the-bottom-line-is-I'm-okay-if-you-a re-because-I-know-that-no-one-here-is-at-fault-for -anything-that's-happened-and-" Ralph simply couldn't hold in in anymore at that point. Taking the two steps required to reach his son, he wrapped Rev up in a strong hug, actually lifting him up off the ground a bit. Rev returned the sentiment as best he could from his squashed position, both enjoying the moment for a while until the irked Harriet intentionally coughed loudly, catching their attention enough for them to release.

Of course, things weren't fully cleared up yet, his wife's issue aside, Ralph acknowledged as he turned to face his younger son, seemingly still pensively staring out the window, but Ralph didn't miss how he'd been watching out of the corner of his eye, quickly looking away when his father turned to him. However, his gaze had softened somewhat since Ralph last checked; he sincerely hoped he had a chance to make things right. Rip could hold grudges; it had taken forever for him to become fully open and comfortable around his parents after the Robo Amigo incident.

Separating from Rev (who was quickly set upon by Harriet, trying to 'right the situation',) Ralph approached Rip more cautiously than he had done with Rev. The younger Runner's attention immediately shifted from the window to his dad, but he, just like his brother, had no acidity to his look; however, he was not nearly as open as Rev was, either. Few were ever as open as Rev, really, but Rip was typically fairly closed off. All in all, Ralph had very little idea as to where he stood with his youngest son.

"Rip," Ralph began, taking even more time than with Rev to carefully choose his words, "I'm not going to give you excuses- not that I have any to give…and I'm not going to try to pass this off like it's nothing; that won't fix anything. This is the second time now I've treated you like you aren't important…and no matter the situation, that is inexcusable. Just because we were focused on keeping Rev away from Acmetropolis doesn't mean we should have ignored you…because no matter how we may act that suggests the contrary, you are important to us Rip, no more and no less than Rev is. Your mom and I don't have favorites; we never have, and we never will, because your mom and I love you both too much to be able to ever choose between you. After all this, I'll be sure that this doesn't happen again…though that may not mean much to you… I'm so, deeply sorry for how I acted, and I…just want to know if we're okay."

Rip silently took this all in, letting a pregnant pause stretch between them. Ralph was worried that Rip wouldn't forgive him for the repeat performance, but the youngest of the Runners was more perceptive than most gave him credit for; he'd spent most of his time staring out the window analyzing all of the new information and making his own conclusions and decisions. He understood what the two thieving mice had wanted to achieve by manipulating his parents; all they had wanted was to get Rev out of the picture. Therefore, they would have told Ma and Pa to make Rev the focus. Rip wasn't the one causing the problem, therefore, it would have been easy to push him to the backs of their minds while they dealt with Rev. Granted, a focus on Rev was what had caused the first problem, but this time was different. Despite what he said, both Ma and Pa did have a good excuse this time around, and Rip recognized that. Things would still be a bit rocky for a while but…he figured he wouldn't have to ship off to Detroit any time soon.

"Yeah, sure, we're good," Rip replied, keeping a fairly neutral expression and sounding about as apathetic as ever. However, the fact that Rip didn't immediately blow him off or answer with a sentence that had the word 'whatever' in it spoke volumes to Ralph, who knew his son well enough to pick up on the high level of acceptance in that short sentence and immediately wrap his youngest up in a fierce hug, which Rip warmly if not awkwardly returned.

Their moment ended a bit prematurely when Harriet's voice became loud enough to catch their attention. Poor Rev was being literally backed into a corner by his entranced, livid mother, still berating him for ruining his nice business clothes and leaving so suddenly that they had to rush out and skip dinner to go fetch him. Rip badly hid a snort at his brother's situation, while Ralph quickly rushed off to regain control of his wife.

"And now," Rip concluded, "we have to deal with _this._"

**xoxoxoxox**

Rev ran around HQ, gathering everyone up and bringing them back to the living room to figure out their methods on how to fix his mom. Ace ushered everyone into the adjoining kitchen so as not to tip off Harriet that they were going to be surprising her; however, she wasn't too keen on being left behind, nor leaving her son alone with the group she was trying to keep him away from, and continually tried to follow them or eavesdrop. Tech and Sive, therefore, placed themselves on the living room side of the doorway, where they could deter the errant Runner while still being able to listen to the conversation in the kitchen. Harriet seemed content enough to sit on the couch- on the other end of the room.

It was slow going for a while. Lexi did most of the explaining to Ralph, Rev, and Rip on the various methods to snap someone out of the trance, Tech adding in his two cents from the doorway every so often. Everyone else was multitasking scheming with the Runners and trading off first aid kits for their minor injuries. The Runners did most of the scheming anyway, though; none of the Loonatics knew Harriet well enough to know what would shock her. The idea of Tech and Sive scaring her popped up, but both coyotes agreed that they couldn't pull of the ravenous man-eater act. Pain was immediately thrown out as well, which left the old standbys of doing or saying something shocking.

Tech was only partially listening in on the conversation in the kitchen; he had very little to offer, and would probably not be able to do much by way of helping fix Harriet. Sive, sitting against the wall on the other side of the door, had his attention at the moment. She had changed into a tank top earlier to be able to get to some of her injuries, and all that was left to deal with was the messy looking cut on her shoulder from the jackhammer attack. Tech winced with her as she applied an alcohol swab to the injury.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Hm?" Sive looked up from her work, noticing where he was looking before turning back to her shoulder. "Oh, yeah. It looks worse than it is. It's not too deep; I've just let it sit too long, and now my fur's all messy."

Tech nodded in understanding, feeling better knowing that he didn't hurt her too badly. "Yeah, having a fur coat has its disadvantages."

Sive snorted, expertly tossing the bloody swab into a nearby trashcan. "Like you'd know. When you get hurt, it lasts, what, ten seconds?"

Tech looked himself over, noticing the rips in his uniform and the distinct absence of wounds. He shrugged in response. "It typically lasts a few minutes, actually, so long as it's a minor injury, more if it's serious."

Sive rolled her eyes at his technical response, not that he could see it while she was looking through the kit for some gauze and tape. "The trick is to avoid getting hurt in the first place, which I'm usually much better at doing." Tech agreed, noticing all of the not-quite-clean spots on her light colored fur all along her arms. Nothing looked serious, but it was still his fault that it had happened.

"Yeah…Sorry about…all that, by the way," he said sheepishly, preparing a few excuses.

Sive didn't even look up at him. "Tech, it wasn't your fault, no harm done, and if I have to pull you out of a guilt trip, I'm going to smack you upside the head."

Tech snorted at the very Sive-esque response, instantly feeling better about the whole thing. He didn't think she'd actually be mad at him, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel bad; seeing that she wasn't seriously hurt helped. Even the hit to her shoulder, now that she'd cleaned it up a bit, looked better as she applied the bandage.

"And that takes care of all that," Sive concluded, beginning to put all of the medical supplies around her back into the kit. She paused as Rip walked out of the kitchen, face neutral as he approached his mom.

"Attempt number one," Tech muttered, watching Rip's progress as he stopped in front of Harriet. All she did was lean a bit so she could watch the kitchen door around him, looking for her other son, not really paying attention to Rip.

He was quick and decisive, not hesitating at all and not giving any intro to what he next said, making it all the more shocking. "Mom, I'm doing drugs."

"That's-nice-honey," she said quickly, not paying any attention and just brushing him off like what he just said was nothing.

Rip, unfazed and seemingly expecting that result, turned and walked back into the kitchen with a sour look. Sive and Tech could hear an angry hiss of "I told you it wouldn't work!" after he reentered the kitchen.

"I'm not sure whether to be depressed or amused by that," Sive concluded a few moments later, once they were sure no second attempt would immediately follow the first. Harriet's reaction (or lack thereof) was humorous, but the fact that she was still giving Rip the short end of the stick very effectively killed the humor.

"I know what you mean," Tech agreed, looking from Harriet back to Sive. Now that the younger coyote was fully facing him, he caught sight of something he'd missed earlier. "You missed one," he said, drawing a line across his cheek where she still had a good deal of red staining her fur.

"Oh, really?" She tried tracing the same line as Tech did, searching for the small cut she had gotten earlier, but wasn't having much luck. It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to do much to it without a mirror, regardless of whether or not she managed to find it.

"Here, let me help you with that," he said, moving over to sit on the other side of her so as not to block the door. It was a small cut that didn't require a bandage, but it did need to be cleaned so it wouldn't get infected. Gently shifting her fur around to be able to look at the wound itself, he could see that it was short but wide, and a bruise looked to be forming around it.

"That looks like it's going to bruise," he informed her as he reopened the kit. "What did that? A hammer?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a wrench, actually," she mused, "and yet there were a lot of tools flying and I can't remember exactly which ones hit where."

While Tech was still rifling through the kit, Sive avidly watched as Ralph walked out of the kitchen, appearing nervous and almost as uncomfortable as he had before clearing things up with his kids.

"Uh, Harriet?" he started uncertainly, slowly, as though choosing his words carefully. It was enough to catch his wife's attention. He then proceeded to rocked through the rest of his speech. "HoneyI'vebeenthinkingforawhileandit'sbeenstarting tobothermeandIreallythinkweshouldmaybegetadivorce. "

That last word caught the coyotes' attentions, and they both immediately snapped their heads towards that conversation. Harriet, having the fast Runner mind, had been able to follow her husband's quick words, and was just starting to look perturbed, but Ralph beat her to it. "Hahahanevermindhoneythatwasjustajokeseealittlepra nknoharmdonerightloveyoubye!" Ralph then may have beat his older son's speed record jetting out of that room.

"…That went well," Sive concluded sarcastically after Ralph had cleared out. Harriet, though momentarily bothered, was still entranced based on her eye color.

Tech snorted in acknowledgement, picking up one of the swabs he had prepared and turning back to Sive. "Hold still," he told her, leaning in so he could see what he was doing. He focused on getting as much of the blood as he could out of her fur first before moving to disinfect it. Sive naturally flinched at the contact with the alcohol.

"Sorry," she squeaked in response to his unamused expression. He merely cupped her opposite cheek to ensure she wouldn't move before repeating his earlier action, moving even closer to further ensure she wouldn't jump. It took only a moment to disinfect the wound, but it took him a relatively much longer amount of time to realize just how much Sive had tensed up, and even longer to realize why. But even he was only so dense, eventually realizing that they were much closer than socially acceptable, and moved quickly to recoil and stammer numerous apologies, knowing that Sive wasn't really one for close contact.

He didn't get a single word out of his mouth. Green eyes met blue, and it was like everything stopped. Both coyotes froze, discomforts forgotten, seemingly entranced by each other, as though noticing something that was lost on them before. Neither noticed Lexi walk in to attempt something else, walking out just as quickly as she came in (and barely containing a squee of delight); to them, nothing existed but the other. This went on longer than either realized- until Duck spontaneously appeared on the other end of the room, screaming in Harriet's face in an attempt to scare her.

Sive and Tech both jumped, both barely containing shouts of surprise (and, in Sive's case, a bolt of energy,) as they turned to the source of the noise. Duck was in some obscene position standing on a table, while Harriet apathetically looked on.

"If-you're-trying-to-scare-me-you're-going-to-have -to-do-better-than-that," she stated matter-of-factly. "I-raised-two-troublesome-boys-and-while-neither-c an-teleport-I've-still-seen-just-about-everything. "

The grumbling Duck frustratedly swept back into the kitchen, not noticing the two furiously blushing coyotes, both looking at anything but each other and neither wanting to say anything nor knowing what to say. This continued through two more attempts consisting of Rev trying to say that he vehemently hated his mother (which ended much like Ralph's attempt,) and Ace saying that Rev was coming back to the team no matter what, which served to infuriate her more than surprise her. They were only saved from the awkward silence a little later when Rip popped his head through the door.

"Hey, Sive!" he called, looking as eager as any of the Loonatics had ever seen him. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

Sive had no idea what he meant by 'borrowing' her, but nevertheless followed him back into the kitchen, leaving Tech to think about what had just transpired.

He was left without really knowing what to think. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. He'd heard of it, some special 'click' happening between two people- in romance movies. Which were all folly, of course; there was no real logic behind the idea, no data that could be taken from it. After all, it had nothing to do with how he constantly wanted to keep her out of harm's way, or help her when she needed it, or got butterflies in his stomach when she stayed late with him in the lab…

Tech's musing was interrupted when Sive and Rip emerged from the kitchen, everyone else filing out and hanging around the doorway to watch. Whatever they had planned must have been good to gather that kind of an audience when no one had watched any of the previous attempts, but that was lost on the coyote as he took in Sive and Rip, walking with his arm around one of her shoulders, a smug grin on his face while she looked to be barely containing giggles.

Harriet looked up, her attention solely focused on the approaching coyote. Rip, once again, spoke without much leeway or introduction, stating his point simply and quickly, and it took a moment for its meaning to settle in.

"Mom, meet my new girlfriend!"

Pedestrians 134 floors below could have heard her scream of terror.

**xoxoxoxox**

It took longer to convince Harriet that Rip and Sive were, in fact, not dating than it took to explain what had happened to her. It took even longer for certain people, namely Rip, Rev, Sive, Lexi, Slam, and Duck, to stop laughing. Tech was still acting grumpy even longer than that, at which point Lexi playfully ribbed him about being jealous, which resulted in his grumpy attitude turning to shy stuttering.

However, like Ralph, Harriet felt immense guilt at how she'd treated her sons, and so the Loonatics once again filed out of the room to let them have their moment. In the meantime, Ace retrieved Rev's uniform from the storage locker he'd safely stowed it in while Tech called up Zadavia once more.

Once Rev did the rounds again, calling everyone to the living room, Zadavia materialized on the projector there to formally reinstate Rev as part of the team, with Ace symbolically returning the uniform which Rev was all too glad to change into after being stuck in his charred business clothes for a few hours. His family watched from the sidelines, proud of their son and brother. They all acknowledged that it was the happiest Rev had been in weeks.

Everything immediately clicked back into place. The Runners stayed for a quick pizza dinner before going home again, leaving Rev and the Loonatics to let things go back to normal. The typical level of volume returned to HQ with the return of Rev's usual ramblings, and the lab fell back into whack with Rev correcting Tech's usual little mistakes, though neither displaced Sive from her assumed position during Rev's absence. Most notably, with their usual speed element back, the team was back in balance on the battlefield, having a great streak after such a tough experience with the mice.

All in all, the team was whole again, and if anything, they were stronger than before. Losing one part had showed them just how much they relied on each other and how attuned to each other they were, and no one was too eager to mess that balance up once again. They all knew that the team was like family, and family was always a priority.

**A/N: I know Harriet didn't play a huge role in this, but even in Family Business, I got the sense that Ralph was the one who was the main focus of the feud, while Harriet followed along, so I felt that he should be more central to this one as well. *shrug***

**Woo, cheesey end! *shot* I had no idea how to wrap this up nicely, so have a premade, store bought bow!**

**Anywho, I don't even have the outline for my next story done yet. Not even close. So, I need to do that at some point, and with all of my schoolwork piled up all at once from now until the end of the year, that may not happen for a while. So, hope and pray for my return to happen sometime in June. And just a note; for anyone who has not read And Then There Were Seven yet, my first story in my series, my upcoming story will be completely lost on you. I recognize that ATTWS is not my best work (it was my first fic, give me a break!), and I fully intend to rewrite it when I have time (read: when I'm 65 and retired,) please note that I have improved significantly in my writing ability (or so I like to think… I look back at ATTWS and it makes me want to put my fist through my screen, and I'm too scared to look at Paradox,) so please do not let that deter you from any of my future works.**

**So, in closing… Let's hope that I see all of you wonderful readers agian in June! **

**Can I please have some reviews to tide me over until then?**

EDIT: Thanks to Candlestic and Halloween Witch for pointing out a formatting error with the Runner's speech! I think I've found all the errant spaces, but if I missed one please point it out!


End file.
